No Man Left Behind
by StaindRedGlass
Summary: STORY 9: The team is sent to a village in Nigeria to find out who killed five marines. With an enemy force on route, the team must evacuate. But as the situation becomes more hostile, can the marine in Gibbs leave a fallen man behind?
1. Chapter 1

Here's the 9th story in my series. If you haven't read the other stories, then I advise you to not proceed until you do. This is a series. It runs in sequence. To understand certain things (especially where Jamie came from), it's best to just start at the beginning. This series is kind of like my very own NCIS season 4. As of this point, the series consists of: story 1 A Link to the Past (comes in 3 parts)… story 2 Wrong Place, Wrong Time…. story 3 Second Job… story 4 Daughters… story 5 A Personal Vendetta… story 6 Bless the Children… story 7 Eyes of the Condemned… story 8 Disturbing Affection… story 9 No Man Left Behind (current story). Hope you enjoy it.

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**Monday**

**Chapter 1**

It's Monday morning and the team, except for Gibbs, are all up in the work area just sitting around. There's a mandatory sensitivity training that will begin in about 30 minutes that the team has to go to. Tony is sitting at his desk, pounding his head on his desk.

"Is there some reason you're pounding your head on the desk?" Ziva asked.

"He's trying to injure himself so he doesn't have to go to sensitivity training today." McGee stated.

"Oh yeah… I forgot that's today." Ziva realized.

"I hate sensitivity training." Tony stated.

"Is it really that bad?" Ziva asked.

Tony's lifts his head and looks across at Ziva. Tony's forehead is all red.

"Never mind, I guess it is." Ziva said.

Tony's head falls back onto the desk. Jamie steps off the elevator and she walks toward the work area. She enters the area.

"Good morning everybody!" Jamie greeted them.

"Good morning." Both Ziva and McGee greeted her back.

"Eh." Tony said with his head still on the desk.

"You seem rather excited this morning Jamie." McGee stated.

"I'm looking forward to sensitivity training today." Jamie said.

Tony's head immediately pops up.

"So am I. I love sensitivity training." Tony grins.

Ziva and McGee both look at each other because they know the reason Tony said that. Jamie looks at Tony with his red forehead.

"You're only saying that cuz you'll get to spend the whole day sitting next to me." Jamie said.

"Seriously, I love it. I always enjoy sensitivity training." Tony defended himself.

"Then why have you been pounding your head on the desk?"

"Uh… Cuz I missed you."

"Aww, how sweet." Jamie said. "But nice try." Jamie turns to the rest of the team. "How does Tony feel about sensitivity training?"

Tony begins waving his arms. Ziva and McGee notice.

"He hates it." Ziva replied.

"He can't stand it." McGee responded.

"You traitors!" Tony exclaimed.

"Just as I thought." Jamie said.

"Ok fine… I hate it. It's so boring and pointless."

Jamie finally walks around the desk and sits in Tony's lap. She wraps her arms around his neck and he wraps his arms around her. Suddenly, Gibbs steps off the elevator and starts walking toward the area. Tony notices Gibbs coming and nudges Jamie to get off. Before Jamie could slide off Tony's lap, Gibbs walks right passed the area in order to go to the stairs. Tony and Jamie are perplexed as to why he didn't even stop. All of them watch Gibbs as he walks up the stairs and eventually enters into MTAC. Tony turns the chair back toward the front.

"Huh… That's weird." Tony said.

"He didn't even stop to glare at us." Jamie stated.

"Does your Dad know about the small wedding we have planned yet?" Tony asked.

"I still haven't told him."

"You do realize it's in a couple days, so you need to tell him soon."

"I know, I know."

"So are you two excited about being married soon?" McGee asked.

"Yes." Jamie answered.

"Only if Gibbs doesn't end up killing me." Tony replied.

Jamie smacks Tony on the back of the head.

Meanwhile, up in MTAC, Gibbs just got on with the XO of the USS Mount Whitney which is a Command Ship that was stationed in the Mediterranean Sea but is now off the coast of Nigeria.

"It's been a long time Jethro." Admiral Jason Montgomery stated.

"That it has Jason." Gibbs said. "I heard this is urgent, so what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Do you remember little Ben Walters?"

"I haven't seen him in ages. I heard he's a Marine now. How's the kid doing these days?"

"He's dead Jethro."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Do you remember how I told his parents I'd always look after him?"

"Yes I do."

"I know it's a horrible time to bring up the past, but do you remember how you said how happy you were that I introduced you to Shannon?"

"You obviously didn't contact me to catch up on old times Jason."

"I need your help."

"Where in Iraq was he killed?"

"It wasn't Iraq. He was stationed in Nigeria at the time."

"I know the Army Corps of Engineers are in Nigeria to evaluate possible power supplies for the country, so a Marine has no reason to be there." Gibbs stated. "I know you're gonna start that whole classified bullshit on me. I know I owe you from a long time ago, but I'm not gonna put my team in harm's way if I don't know what the situation is. So you better declassify it if you want my help."

"You're right. It's classified information. And with what the situation is, as Admiral I should tell you it's on a need-to-know basis… But as an old friend whose gonna do me a favor, I'll declassify it." Admiral Montgomery sighs. "I need to tell Ben's parents that we got who did this, without having to lie to them cuz that's something I'd never do."

After a couple more minutes, the conversation was finally over and Gibbs leaves MTAC. He walks down the stairs and into the work area. Gibbs stops, turns to Tony and Jamie and glares at them. Jamie slides out of Tony's lap.

"Grab your gear people." Gibbs stated as he walks to his desk.

"What do we got Boss?" McGee asked.

"There's a person dispersing drugs on the USS Mount Whitney off the coast of Nigeria."

"Yes!" Tony exclaimed in excitement.

"You're staying here for sensitivity training DiNozzo."

"You can't be serious?!"

"And if I am?"

"Please… You can't leave me here for that torture."

"I don't plan on it."

"Oh… Haha… Good joke Boss."

The team continues to grab their stuff. Jamie looks toward Tony. She gives him a quick kiss on the lips. They just hold each other.

"You take care of yourself over there. Don't get too close to the edge of the ship. I don't need you falling overboard." Jamie said. "And don't forget to bring a jacket just in case it gets cold."

"Don't worry about me." Tony said. "I'll be fine."

"I know you will be."

"I wish I could bring you over there with me. Or, I wouldn't mind staying here with you. I honestly wouldn't mind sitting thru sensitivity training just so I could be with you all day." Tony stated. "I really don't wanna be so far away from you."

"I know. Me too."

"DiNozzo!" Gibbs exclaimed.

"Yeah Boss?"

"Keep your hands off my daughter."

Jamie laughs as the two of them back away from each other. The team finally heads to the elevator. Jamie walks out to the window and watches.

"Dad?" Jamie tries to get her father's attention.

Gibbs stops and walks back over to Jamie. He kisses her on the forehead then turns to walk away. Jamie quickly grabs his arm. Gibbs turns to face her.

"That's not what I meant." Jamie said.

"What's wrong?" Gibbs asked.

"Nothing's wrong. It's just… There's something me and Tony have been meaning to tell you for the passed two weeks."

"Ok…"

"I know this is a bit sudden, but make sure you're back by Sunday night."

"What's Sunday night?"

"Sunday night is me and Tony's wedding. It's just gonna be a small service. So just make sure you keep him safe and don't throw him off the ship."

There's a moment of silence between them.

"I promise." Gibbs said.

Gibbs leans forward and kisses Jamie on the forehead. He then walks to the elevator and steps in. The elevator door closes as Gibbs stands next to Tony. Gibbs smacks Tony on the back of the head.

"What was that for?!" Tony exclaimed.

"You're so whipped." Gibbs answered.

The elevator door finally opens and they step out in order to leave the building.


	2. Chapter 2

**Tuesday**

**Chapter 2**

Late Tuesday night the team finally arrives on the USS Mount Whitney. Upon landing on the Command Ship, they're immediately escorted to the war room. The four of them are in the war room waiting. After a couple minutes, Admiral Jason Montgomery, the ship's XO, enters into the room.

"Sorry to keep you all waiting." Admiral Montgomery said. "I know you had a long flight and you're probably tired." He notices Tony's eyes are closed. "Is he sleeping?"

Gibbs, who is standing close to where Tony is sitting, leans over and smacks him on the back of the head.

"Yeah… I'm awake." Tony said as his eyes open.

Admiral Jason Montgomery drops a file onto the table.

"Here's everything you need on the drug case so when you wake up in the morning, you can arrest Petty Officer Harold Taylor." Admiral Montgomery stated.

"If you already know who it is and have evidence against him, then why bring us in?" McGee asked.

Admiral Montgomery looks toward Gibbs.

"Don't look at me to tell them." Gibbs said. "But you can trust them. I personally vouch for each member of this team."

"Tell us what?" Ziva asked.

"The person on my ship dispersing drugs was a way I can get you onto the ship in order to do something else." Admiral Montgomery stated.

"To do what?" Tony asked.

"In a village more then 200 miles to the north is where five marines were killed three days ago and I want who did it."

"The Army Corps of Engineers are in the country, but why are marines here?" McGee asked.

"It's true, the Army Corps of Engineers are in the country, but they're only stationed within the vicinity of Port Harcourt which is in the southern part of Nigeria…"

"That still doesn't explain why marines are here." Ziva stated.

"We've made it appear that the Army Corps of Engineers want to evaluate other sections of the country for possible power supplies. We have a lot of 8 man squads in towns all along the rivers."

"So all the teams that are inland, in villages along the river system, are marine squads?" Tony asked.

"Yes."

"Why?" Tony continued his thought.

"We came across intell that a Nigerian General is funding Al-Quieda. In order to prevent this…"

"Why not just assassinate this General." Ziva stated.

"We'd love to, but we can't."

"Why not?" Ziva asked again.

"Nigeria has five Generals." McGee said.

"And we don't know which one is providing the funding. We need to flush out and detain the General so he can stand trial in an international court for war crimes." Admiral Montgomery said. "In terms of military, Nigeria is broke into five regions. Each General controls the specific military within that region. We've been able to eliminate three of the possible Generals due to their region clearly lacking sufficient resources in order to provide funding. So that leaves two Generals that do have the resources. We don't know which of the two it is."

"Can the Nigerian President help?" McGee asked.

"In a country like this, it's the military that has real the power. Not the President. The President is basically a puppet." Admiral Montgomery stated.

"So why exactly do we have marines out there disguised as the Army Corps of Engineers?" Tony asked.

"The Intel we received has come from two informants. The mole, the man on the inside, is the person who gathers the intell as his position grants him access to certain information. What he actually does is unknown. The informant is the outside man. The mole provides Intel to the informant, who is then able to relay the Intel us. We have no ID on either of these informants. But every bit of Intel we received has proved to be valuable."

"So we have marine squads in disguise, trying to find the informant." McGee stated.

"Yes… But you're only here to investigate the deaths of my marines."

"If this informant has been relaying Intel to the US, then with marine squads all over the place, why doesn't the informant just come to us?" Tony asked.

"Think about it DiNozzo…" Gibbs steps in. "We have a General funding Al-Quieda and with a US presence in the country, he's not gonna produce a lot of suspicious behavior. The General wants to find this informant. The informant is the only link we have to possibly finding out which of the five Generals is the one providing the funding for Al-Quieda. But he won't risk sending out small armies all over the place due to how suspicious that would look. He wants to remain under the radar. So how do you think he can find the informant in a discrete manner?"

"He has spies all over the place." Ziva stated.

"With having spies all over the place, if the informant gives his position away, then all the General has to do is send a small army to that town. It would be a massacre if he gives his position away."

"If that type of massacre was to occur, then you'd obviously know which of the Generals is providing the funding." Tony said.

"True, but at what cost? Innocent lives would be lost. But then we also loose the only person who has contact with an inside man. If we loose the informant, the General would make new security strategies and we would be flying blind which would make it a lot harder to flush him out. We need that contact in order to defuse the situation in a quiet manner."

"Why did you tell us all of this?" Ziva asked.

"One of the marines was the son of a close personal friend who I promised to always look out for. So I need to tell his parents something. I wouldn't be able to tell them where it happened, who did it and why. But I can at least tell them I caught the person responsible." Admiral Montgomery said. "The only way Gibbs would come is if he knew exactly what type of situation he would be putting his team into."

"Basically, we're here under the pretense of finding out who killed five members of the Army Corps of Engineers. We're to operate as believing we don't know exactly what's going on in Nigeria." Gibbs stated.

"The US presence in the country will keep the General's actions in check to avoid suspicion. It wouldn't surprise me if the General, who is providing the funding, already knows that our troops in the Northern part of the country don't belong to the Army Corps of Engineers. Since we've haven't made any type of advance or attempt to bring the General down, it proves one thing to him. The US doesn't know which of the five Generals to go after. Which means military actions within the country will be at a minimum."

"What about Warlords?" McGee asked.

"There's localized fighting between Warlords in areas that have diamond mines. Those areas are being monitored through surveillance." Admiral Montgomery stated. "As a safety precaution, I've increased the surveillance on the village you'll be in. So if any enemy force enters inside a 60 mile radius of your position, you'll be evacuated."

"If each marine squad is 8 men, five of which are dead, do you think one of the remaining three marines could have done it?" Ziva asked.

"The other three marines were in the village to the South picking up some extra supplies. So they weren't even there when the incident happened." Admiral Montgomery stated. "It was someone in that village. And for the safety of the remaining marines, I need the situation taken care of before I fulfill the request to send another five marines to the village."

"How long do we have?" Ziva asked.

"Do we have a murder weapon?" Tony asked.

"I can only provide the extra surveillance until Friday morning, so you have until then. At that time, I'm pulling your team out of there, with or without the killer." Admiral Montgomery answered Ziva's question first. "As for a murder weapon… We don't have one. All we know is that it was a knife."

"Any leads?" McGee asked.

"The village consists of 63 people in total. Through surveillance, 59 residents have been ruled out. That leaves four possible suspects in the village." Admiral Montgomery stated. "I had my men, in-discretely take surveillance photos of the four suspects. We also got their fingerprints by taking something they touched."

"We're talking about Nigeria here. These people don't have a DNA or finger print database." Tony said.

"Tony… If we find the murder weapon, we can match the fingerprints on it to one of the four suspects." Ziva stated.

"That makes sense." Tony said.

"I'm unclear on the point of why we're collecting evidence and looking for a murder weapon." McGee stated. "We have no jurisdiction to put this person on trial."

"McGee, we just gotta find who did it. That's all." Tony said. "In order to protect the remaining three marines in the village, why leave them in the presence of a killer?"

"All we have to do is find the murder weapon?" McGee asked.

"After we find out who did it, by locating the murder weapon, the good Admiral will take it from there and we'll go home." Gibbs stated.

"Those three remaining marines have a lot to do, especially being five men short. So I need someone else to locate the murder weapon in order to find who killed my marines. And that's why you're here."

There's a pause of silence.

"Are we clear on what our part in this situation is?" Gibbs asked the team.

"Yes Boss." Tony, Ziva and McGee all stated at the same time.

"Now get some rest… Cuz we have a long two days ahead of us." Gibbs said.

Tony, Ziva and McGee all leave the War Room. Admiral Montgomery looks at Gibbs.

"You do realize…" Admiral Montgomery begins to say.

"Don't worry about it… We'll get the job done." Gibbs stated.

Admiral Montgomery nods. Gibbs finally walks out of the War Room.


	3. Chapter 3

**Wednesday**

**Chapter 3**

Wednesday morning, immediately after sun rise, the team arrests Petty Officer Harold Taylor for trafficking drugs on the USS Mount Whitney. After the arrest, the team is brought ashore to the base of operations for the Army Corps of Engineers located in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Once ashore, they get into a Humvee. They're driven out to the village where the murders took place. Each of them gets out of the Humvee and begins gathering their stuff from the back.

"How can they call this a village?" Tony asked.

"Cuz that's what it is." McGee replied.

"This place has some buildings in the Northern section."

"And your point is?" Ziva asked.

"What constitutes a place as being called a village are shacks and huts. But this place has some buildings. So how can it be a village?"

"Where do you get this ignorant information from?" Ziva asked.

"Movies always portray villages as being shacks and huts…"

"That was a stupid question on my part. I should've known you would mention movies." Ziva said.

"Sometimes movies don't portray certain things as…" McGee begins to say.

"What about regular TV… Like the news?" Tony asked. "Every time I see a village from a different country on the news, the village consists of shacks and huts. So that's reality TV right there."

"How often do you watch the news?" Ziva asked.

"How often I watch the news is irrelevant."

"You're too busy watching movies and messing around with Jamie to actually sit down and watch the news." McGee stated.

"Oh yeah… I'm sure Jamie takes up plenty of your free time." Ziva said.

"We're not talking about Jamie here. We're talking about this place being called a village when it clearly shouldn't be."

Gibbs walks over to them. He glares at all three of them as they fall silent. Gibbs smacks Tony on the back of the head.

"It's a village." Gibbs stated. "End of story."

Gibbs walks away in the direction of the tents. The team finishes grabbing their stuff. They then begin to follow after Gibbs.

"It's not a village." Tony said to the others as they approach the tents.

The Humvee finally leaves the village as the entire team enters into the tents. In the back of the tent is a table where Warrant Officer Miller is working on a couple reports.

"You must be the NCIS team." Warrant Officer Miller stands up to greet them. "Please… Sit."

All of them sit down at the table.

"I have a lot of work to do, especially with being five men short. So I hope you all know exactly what your purpose is in the village here." Warrant Officer Miller stated.

"Why does everybody call this…" Tony begins to say before Ziva kicks him in the knee to shut him up.

"We know our purpose, yes." Gibbs said. "We find out who killed those five marines then we're gone. We don't wanna be here any longer then we have to."

"Good… Cuz I have enough people in this village to watch over."

"It's not…" Tony begins to say but Ziva immediately places her hand over his mouth.

"Is he gonna be a problem?" Warrant Officer Miller asked, referring to Tony.

"If he becomes a problem you have my permission to shoot him." Gibbs joked. "What can you tell us about the four possible suspects?"

"Two of them have been in the village since we got here. Another two came in with a group of refugees almost three weeks ago." Warrant Officer Miller stated.

"With the four suspects, has there been any suspicious activity with any of them?" Gibbs asked.

"Not that any of us have witnessed."

"If I may ask… You said a group came here as refugees. Why were they refugees?" McGee asked.

"To the North, about 70 miles, is what we have labeled as a Hostile Zone. A couple Warlords have an ongoing feud over the control of the biggest diamond mine in the country."

"Blood diamonds?" Ziva asked.

"Yes." Warrant Officer Miller answered. He hands Gibbs a file. "These are the surveillance photos and some notes on each of the four suspects. In the box over there…" He points to the box. "Are the items we in-discretely had each of the four suspects touch. Also, there's a surveillance photo to go with each item so you'll know which fingerprints belong to which suspect." He sighs briefly. "The murders occurred in the three-story building. You can't miss it cuz it's the only three-story building in the village."

"Do you have any idea why they were in the three-story building?" Gibbs asked.

"If I knew the answer, I'd tell you. But I don't. That's about all the help I can give you Agent Gibbs."

"You can actually help with one last thing." Gibbs stated.

"Anything you need."

"Can I borrow your computer?"

"I thought you might ask that so I took the liberty of hooking up the extra one for you." Warrant Officer Miller stated. "I have you setup in the next tent. It should have everything you need… Cots, blankets, pillows, computer… If you need anything more, let me know."

"Do you possibly have a muzzle for him?" Ziva asked as she points to Tony.

"Unfortunately, I can't help you there."

"Thanks for your time." Gibbs said.

Gibbs and the team stand up and walk to their tent. They all put their stuff down.

"Ziva… McGee… Take the items the suspects touched and get their finger prints into the computer. Then I want you to start a perimeter search." Gibbs stated. "As for me and Tony… We're going to the three-story building to look around." He looks over at Tony. "Besides, I need to talk to him alone."

"Talk to me about what?" Tony asked.

Gibbs finally walks away and out of the tent. Tony starts walking toward the exit of the tent.

"Dead man walking!" McGee exclaimed.

Tony stops and turns around.

"Dead man walking was a good movie, by the way. It starred Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn. It was about…" Tony begins to say but is stopped as Gibbs grabs him by the ear. "Ouch!"

Gibbs pulls Tony out the tent. Ziva and McGee begin the transfer of the finger prints from the items, to the computer so they can later make a reference match to the finger prints on the murder weapon when they find it.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Gibbs and Tony walk toward the three-story building at the Northern part of the village. As they approach the building, they see a couple Nigerian children kicking a ball around. One of the children kicks the ball and it rolls toward where Gibbs and Tony are. The children look over at them. Tony finally picks up the ball and extends his hand toward one of the children. The children run behind a couple huge rocks and peek over.

"I thought kids living in villages in different countries were always curious about new-comers." Tony stated.

"They are… But at first they're cautious." Gibbs said. "After the cautiousness passes, they'll be around us all the time."

Tony rolls the ball toward the rock where the children are hiding behind. Gibbs and Tony continue walking to the building. Suddenly, the ball hits Tony's foot. Tony turns around and the children run behind the rocks again. Tony leans down and rolls the ball toward the rock again. A child comes out from behind the rock and grabs the ball. He then rolls the ball over to Tony.

Gibbs smiles as Tony and the child roll the ball back and forth a couple more times. Finally the child grabs the ball and runs off with the rest of the children.

Gibbs and Tony finally enter into the three-story building. They walk up the stairs to the second floor.

"What do you expect to find in here?" Tony asked.

"Nothing…" Gibbs replied. "I just wanted to come here so we can talk."

"If it's about the whole village thing…"

"It has nothing to do with that whole village conversation."

"Oh… So what do you wanna talk about?"

"We've never really had the chance to talk about you and Jamie being together."

"So you don't approve of us?"

"Jamie is all I have. She's my only daughter." Gibbs stated. "A father wants to know that his daughter will be taken care of, provided for. I have no problem with you and Jamie being together. But I just wanna know what your intensions are."

"I wanna keep her happy in two ways. One, keep her happy in life. And two, keep her happy with me." Tony stated. "And of course I intend to…" He hesitates.

"You intend to marry her, right?"

"Well… Yes."

"Let me tell you a little something about marriage…"

"Mister I've been married, God knows how many times, actually has something to say about marriage?"

Gibbs glares at Tony.

"That… That just slipped out." Tony stated.

"The reason I have so many ex-wives is because we rushed into getting married. A marriage that's rushed into has more of a chance of ending in divorce. Everything can be all grand at first and the people will think it'll work out. But then they don't work out cuz the two people didn't take the time to fully understand every little thing about their partner."

"Uh… Hmm…"

"It's just better to not rush into getting married. Besides, if you two are meant to be together, then it'll be worth the wait."

"I'm guessing Jamie hasn't talked to you yet?"

"Talked to me about what?"

"Uh… She… Hmm…" Tony changes what he is gonna say. "Jamie mentioned the marriage thing to me, but I told her it was too soon and that I just wanna take my time with this."

"Good for you DiNozzo… Cuz I honestly don't think either of you are actually ready for that type of commitment just yet."

Tony turns around and smacks the palm of his hand to his forehead because he knows he just said something stupid. Gibbs just smirks.

"Is there a problem DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked.

"No… No problem… I just think I left my MP3 player on the ship." Tony lied as he turns back around to face Gibbs.

"Two weeks ago Jamie mentioned that you two have had sex…" Gibbs begins to say.

"You're not gonna kill me are you? Cuz she told me I have immunity with that." Tony quickly defends himself.

"Have you been using protection?" Gibbs immediately gets to the point.

"Of course… Why would we not?" Tony becomes more nervous in what he says. "Out of respect for you, since you already know we have, I just want you to know we don't have crazy sex all the time… I mean… We've hardly done it at all, actually. And each time I've used protection, so you don't have to worry about her becoming pregnant anytime soon."

"That's good DiNozzo. I like how this is turning out. Waiting to get married and to have a child is a good thing. It'll be worth the wait when they both eventually come."

Tony turns around and smacks the palm of his hand to his forehead again. Gibbs smirks as he finds it enjoyable to mess with Tony like this.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

After looking around the three-story building then helping with a perimeter search, Gibbs and Tony finally meet up with Ziva and McGee outside of the team's tent.

"It seems we're not having much luck with a perimeter search." McGee stated.

"Where else can a person hide a weapon here?" Tony asked.

The team looks around the village from their position. The village is has two entry points, one to the North and one to the South. The village is set between two small, rocky-type mountains. There are a couple buildings in the Northern section of the village and the Southern section is mainly shacks and huts. To the South, there's a river that runs along the entire Southern end of the village. There's also a bridge that goes over the river. McGee looks toward the river as Gibbs looks toward the small mountains.

"If you look at the mountain on the left-hand side of the village, there appears to be some type of indentation where the ledge is, halfway up the mountain." Gibbs points to the area. "It's possible a person can toss a weapon up there." He places his hand on Tony's shoulder. "It'll be a good climbing experience for you."

"Why do I have climb up there?" Tony asked.

"Cuz you're the one calling me Boss, remember?"

Gibbs takes his hand off Tony and walks over toward Ziva and McGee. Tony turns his head away from Gibbs.

"And soon I'll be calling you my father-in-law." Tony said softly to himself.

"What did you say?" Gibbs asked as he turns around.

"Nothing." Tony said.

Gibbs turns to face Ziva and McGee but instead of looking at them, he's really looking at the river behind them. Ziva notices where Gibbs is looking.

"Where do you want us to search?" McGee asked.

"He wants us to search the river." Ziva stated.

Gibbs nods.

"Haha!" Tony laughs. "That's gonna take you a long time."

"Not necessarily." McGee stated. "If I analyze the depth of the river and how strong the current is, then I'd be able to determine a specific section of the river to actually search for the murder weapon. I'd also need to factor in the weight of the knife itself…"

"Newsflash McGeek… We don't know the weight of the knife." Tony said.

"I know… But the stab wounds can tell me how long the blade is." McGee stated. "Let's say the blade is 7 inches long then all I have to do is cross-reference the length to all known knives to get a range of how much our knife could possibly weigh. So then I'd be able to figure out how far the current of the river actually pushed the knife along after it was thrown in." McGee said. "I'd also have to factor in the possible shape, cuz the shape of a knife can play a small roll in how far down the river the current can push it. But either way, I can narrow down how much of the river bottom we'll have to search…" McGee notices Gibbs is glaring at him. "But you don't care how it gets done, just as long as it does."

Gibbs nods. McGee makes a move toward the entrance to the tent. Gibbs immediately grabs McGee by the shoulder.

"I need to use the computer in order to start the analysis." McGee stated.

"I need to make a call first." Gibbs said.

Gibbs enters into the tent while the rest of the team waits outside, talking amongst themselves. Gibbs walks to the back and grabs the satellite phone. Before making his call, he notices Tony's MP3 player and sticks it in his pocket. Gibbs finally calls Special Agent Tobias Fornell of the FBI.

"Fornell…" Agent Fornell said after picking up his phone.

"Tobias, it's me Jethro. I need you to do me a favor."

"Sure?"

"This is what I need…" Gibbs begins telling Fornell what he needs.

Meanwhile, outside the tent, the rest of the team is just talking.

"So what did you and Gibbs talk about while you were in the three-story building?" McGee asked.

"Oh yes… Does he know about the wedding on Sunday?" Ziva asked.

"I dug myself into an even deeper hole." Tony stated.

"What did you say?" Ziva asked.

"He thinks me and Jamie aren't gonna rush into marriage. He thinks the marriage will happen a long time from now."

"If you consider Sunday being a long time from now, then you're words are golden." Ziva stated.

"I can't believe Jamie hasn't told him yet." Tony said. "Do you know how much this sucks?"

"I can imagine. Today is Wednesday. The wedding is Sunday. Jamie isn't around to tell him, which leaves you to do it." McGee said. "And of course you already told him the complete opposite of what you should have."

"Maybe I should find that marine guy that Gibbs gave his permission to shoot me." Tony said. "I have no choice. I need to tell Gibbs what's going on. I have to tell him."

Suddenly, Gibbs comes out of the tent.

"Tell me what DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked.

"Ok… Umm… There's something I really need to tell you..." Tony begins to say.

"Before you say anything, I just wanna say how much I respect you for the conversation we had a while ago. I know I can be a bit hard on you in regards to Jamie, but I want you to know how much I appreciate the fact that I can trust you. And I'm glad you respect me enough to wait on getting married." Gibbs places his hand on Tony's shoulder. "I would be honored to have you as a son-in-law when you and Jamie eventually get married a long time from now. I always thought of you as a son. So you can tell me anything." He said. "What is it you wanted to tell me?"

Tony's jaw drops.

"I… I… I found my MP3 player. It was in the other tent."

"Good for you DiNozzo."

Gibbs smirks as he finally walks away. Tony smacks his palm to his forehead. Ziva and McGee laugh.

"Really smooth Tony." McGee said.

"Probably the best thing for you to do now is find that marine so he can shoot you." Ziva stated.

"Shut up." Tony said.

"DiNozzo!" Gibbs yelled.

"Coming Boss!" Tony exclaimed.

Tony runs over to Gibbs, who is walking toward the mountain on the left-hand side of the village. Ziva and McGee enter into the tent in order to start their analysis.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Gibbs and Tony are standing near the mountain on the left-hand side of the village. Tony is preparing some gear in order to start climbing up to the ledge where the indentation is. He stops what he's doing and looks down because a ball hits his foot. Tony looks to the side as he sees the child, the little boy from earlier, walking toward him. Tony quickly looks at Gibbs who is shaking his head. Tony picks up the ball and hands it the boy.

"I can't play right now." Tony said.

The little boy frowns and hugs the ball. Tony continues preparing his gear. With one hand, the boy begins pulling Tony's shirt, trying to get his attention. With the other hand, the boy points in the direction of the tent Tony is staying in. Tony turns to the boy.

"Yes… That's where I'm staying." Tony said.

The boy keeps pulling Tony's shirt.

"Maybe I can play later. But right now, I can't." Tony said.

"You're set to go up." Gibbs said as he finished preparing something for the climb.

Tony steps to the mountain and begins climbing. The boy stays in the area and watches. Gibbs notices the boy has a worried facial expression. With his free hand, Gibbs takes Tony's MP3 player out of his pocket. He then whistles to get the boy's attention. The boy looks toward Gibbs. Gibbs extends his hand to show the boy the MP3 player. The boy cautiously steps closer in order to take a look. The boy quickly grabs the MP3 player from Gibbs' hand and backs away.

"It belongs to him." Gibbs points to Tony who is climbing the mountain.

The little boy smiles and runs away. A couple minutes after the boy ran away, Gunnery Sergeant Andrew Kipper walks into the area.

"With that little boy, it surprises me how interested he is with your friend." Gunnery Sergeant Kipper stated.

"The kid is just curious about him." Gibbs said.

"That little kid is very cautious. Your friend is the first foreigner he ever approached."

"That kid can't talk, can he?"

"I don't know much about him. But I know he came in with Arthur." Gunnery Sergeant Kipper notices Arthur not too far away. "Arthur!" He yelled to get his attention.

Arthur is now walking over to the two of them.

"Arthur speaks English very well, so he's easy to talk to." Gunnery Sergeant Kipper stated.

Arthur finally walks into the vicinity.

"Yes?" Arthur asked.

"We were just wondering about the little boy over there." Gunnery Sergeant Kipper said as he points to the boy.

"I heard he's very cautious about outsiders, yet he's very interested in my friend. So we're just wondering why." Gibbs said.

"It's possible your friend reminds him of someone in his family."

"You make it sound like you're not part of his family." Gibbs stated.

"You're correct. I'm not. That little boy and his family were caught in a cross-fire between rival Warlords. His family was killed and the boy was injured. He was left to die until I found him. And he's been with me ever since."

"Can the boy speak?" Gibbs asked.

"Unfortunately, due to the injury, he lost his voice. But he understands what you're saying."

"I got the impression that he understands us." Gibbs said.

Arthur notices a man looking over at the three of them. Gibbs realizes Arthur is looking behind him.

"I must go." Arthur said. "I have things to do."

Arthur finally walks away. Gibbs turns to see what Arthur was looking at before, but whoever was there, is now gone. Gibbs turns to the Gunnery Sergeant.

"How come Arthur is on the suspect list?" Gibbs asked.

"We had to list all possible people who have the strength enough to have possibly killed the five marines." Gunnery Sergeant Kipper answered. "But personally, I highly doubt Arthur did it. I mean… That man has been nothing but helpful ever since he came in. He even convinced all the villagers to allow us to search their homes after our men were killed. Arthur hasn't just helped us, he helps his fellow people. By his actions, I can tell how much his people mean to him. So I just don't see him as being someone who can kill another, even if it's a foreigner."

"Well you're right… He didn't do it."

"I'm glad you agree, but you just met him. How can you be so sure?"

"I'm very good at reading people. His facial expression, tone voice, his caring… There's no way he did it."

While halfway up to the point Tony needs to be at, he slips and falls slightly. Gibbs holds onto the rope so that Tony doesn't fall. Tony regains his footing and continues climbing.

"It's too bad we don't have more sufficient equipment for mountain climbing." Gunnery Sergeant Kipper stated. "But sometimes you just gotta work with what you're given."

"This is crazy having him place part of the rope around a section of rock so if he falls I can keep in up there." Gibbs said.

"I see he moves up the mountain a little bit, secures his position, then he lifts the rope to loosen it from the section below, so he can wrap it around a section above him. Very smart."

"Like you said… Sometimes you just gotta work with what you're given."

There's a moment of silence.

"So what's your story?" Gibbs asked. "Tell me a little bit about yourself."

"I've been in Iraq for 18 months. I'm actually five days away from going home. My service is almost over, so I'm really excited about being able to see my wife and kids soon." Gunnery Sergeant Kipper stated.

"How many kids do you have?"

"I have a girl and a boy, my daughter is over a year old and my son is five. I actually haven't met my daughter yet. So I'm really looking forward to that. What about you?"

"No wife… But I have a daughter who is soon to be married."

"So you're looking forward to walking her down the isle?"

"I couldn't be happier with it. Being able to walk my daughter down the isle is something I always dreamed of."

"Do you think it's weird how I haven't even met my daughter yet, but I'm already dreaming of walking her down the isle someday?"

Gunnery Sergeant Kipper sees his superior, Warrant Officer Miller, waving for him to come over.

"I have to go." Gunnery Sergeant Kipper said. "It was nice talking to you."

"It was nice talking to you too." Gibbs stated.

Gunnery Sergeant Kipper begins walking away.

"Hey!" Gibbs calls his attention. Gunnery Sergeant Kipper turns around to face Gibbs. "It's not weird. It'll be worth the wait. Trust me."

Gunnery Sergeant Kipper nods. Then he turns and walks away. Gibbs smiles as he thinks of Jamie. He looks back toward the mountain to keep his full attention on making sure Tony doesn't fall.


	7. Chapter 7

**Thursday**

**Chapter 7**

Early Thursday morning, right after sun rise, Tony wakes up. He sits up and puts his feet on the ground. He stretches, tries to adjust his eyes, then he stands up. Tony finally walks out of the tent. For a couple seconds he looks around the village at how peaceful it is since hardly anyone is awake. Suddenly, a ball hits his foot. Tony laughs as he looks down. He picks up the ball as the little boy walks over to him.

"How are you doing kid?" Tony asked.

The boy shrugs his shoulders.

"Have you been waiting for me to wake up?"

The boy nods his head. Then the boy grabs Tony's hand and tries pulling him.

"If you give me a little more time, I promise to play with you in a few minutes ok?"

The boy keeps trying to pull Tony, but he won't budge. The boys stops and kneels down on the ground. With his finger, the boy begins making a stick figure people in the dirt. After the boy finished his picture, he points to the ground where he drew five stick figures.

"Is that your family?"

The boy shakes his head.

"Umm…" Tony scratches his head. "Is that anyone you know?"

The boy nods. He begins making another picture in the dirt. Finally the boy is done making his picture. Tony points to the five stick figures.

"Are these the five US soldiers that were killed?"

The boy nods. Tony then points to the other object the boy made.

"Is that the letter T?"

The boy shakes his head.

"Is that a cross?"

The boy shakes his head again. The boy finally starts making a stabbing motion at Tony.

"Is it a knife?"

The boy nods.

"You're right… The five US soldiers were stabbed."

The boy makes a facial expression of being frustrated. He then points toward the tent Tony is staying in.

"Are you pointing to the tent?"

The boy nods.

"Is there something in the tent you want?"

The boy shakes his head. He then points to Tony.

"Is there something there that I want?"

The boy nods. The boy points to the ground, to his drawing of the knife. Then he points to the tent. He points to the drawing of the knife, then the tent, and keeps doing this.

"Is the knife in the tent?" Tony asked as he knew it was most likely wrong, but thought he would try anyway.

The boy shakes his head. He then looks to the side and grabs a small stick. He breaks the stick and places the small piece on the ground. He then grabs a rock and places it on top of the stick. The boy points to the knife he drew, then lifts the rock and points at the piece of the stick. Then the boy points to the tent, then points to the rock. The boy keeps doing the same thing over and over.

"Is the knife under the tent?"

The boy gets excited, drops the rock and nods.

"Show me where."

The boy stands up, grabs Tony's hand and pulls him in the direction of where the knife is. He brings Tony around the back of the tent and points to a spot below the tent where the dirt has obviously been disturbed.

"You did good kid."

The boy smiles as he and Tony walk along-side of the tent. Gibbs, Ziva and McGee step around tent. They come into view of Tony and the boy. The boy sees them and runs away.

"Aww… Tony has a friend." Ziva stated.

"I gotta show you all something." Tony said. "Come over here."

Tony leads them to the back of the tent.

"We've been looking at this entire situation in the wrong way. If you killed five marines and had to hide the murder weapon somewhere in the village…" Tony begins to say.

"Does this have a point DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked.

"Actually it does." Tony said. "I know where the knife is."

"Where is it?" McGee asked.

"It's in the one spot we would've never thought to look. Since yesterday, when I was about to climb the mountain, that little boy was trying to tell me something. He knows we're looking for something, a knife. The kid knew where it was the whole time."

"So where is it?" Gibbs asked.

Tony points to a section below the tent where the dirt has been disturbed.

"It's dirt Tony." Ziva said.

"If you look around the entire tent, you won't see any section of dirt that looks like this. Someone dug a hole under the tent, stuffed something down there, and pushed the dirt back into place." Tony stated. "The knife has been under us the entire time."

Gibbs walks over to the section of dirt below the tent. He puts gloves on and begins pulling the dirt away. When enough of the dirt is brushed away, Gibbs stuffs his hand under the tent. He takes hold of the knife under the tent. Gibbs pulls it out.

"Now all we have to do is lift the fingerprints and match em to one of the four suspects." McGee stated. "Then we can go home."

The team begins walking along-side of the tent in order to get back to the front. As they're walking to the front of the tent, Tony slows down and looks in the distance at the little boy playing with his ball. Tony stops and just watches the boy. He can't help but smile. Ziva turns around to face Tony.

"Tony…" Ziva tries to get his attention. "Come on."

"Coming." Tony said as he continues to follow.

Inside the tent, McGee begins the process of lifting fingerprints from the knife. Once he lifts a fingerprint from the knife, he scans it into the computer. McGee then sends it to Abby. Gibbs notices what he just did.

"Did you just send the fingerprint to Abby?" Gibbs asked.

"Uh… Yeah." McGee replied nervously.

"Did you send her everything yesterday?"

"I thought that's what you wanted me to do."

"With this computer we can match the fingerprints ourselves! I never asked you to send…"

A video conference link is finally established.

"Gibbs… Hey… It's me… Over here." Abby begins waving. "It's like really early over here. Jamie and I have been here all night ever since I received the fingerprints and photos yesterday. We wanna know what you're doing over there?"

"Abs, I need a match on those fingerprints ASAP." Gibbs said.

"I got it." Abby said. "Sending it now." She presses the enter key to send the match back, which immediately begins printing out for the team. "You're obviously not on the ship Gibbs. So what are you doing there?"

"That's need to know Abs."

Gibbs turns the computer off and grabs the paper that has the photo of the person's fingerprints that made the match. He then glares at McGee who just looks away. Gibbs smacks McGee on the back of the head. The team runs out of the tent.

"This is who we're looking for." Gibbs stated as he passes the paper to Tony.

After the entire team has seen the photo, Ziva notices the man run into the three-story building.

"There he is!" Ziva exclaimed as she points to the building.

Each of the team members pull out their guns as they run to the three-story building. They cautiously enter into the three-story building. Each two person team, Gibbs and Tony, and Ziva and McGee, secure the ground floor. They begin to move up the stairs to the second floor.

On the second floor, in one of the rooms, Arthur is lying on the floor in the corner of the room. The man, whose fingerprints made a match to the murder weapon, is standing over Arthur. The man is holding a brick over his head in order to throw it onto Arthur. Gibbs busts through the door to the room and fires a shot at the man. The brick falls to the floor and so does the man. The murderer is now dead and the room is secure.

Tony notices a small object near the dead man. There's a small red light that's flashing on the object. Arthur stands up.

"What the hell is this thing with the flashy red light?" Tony asked as he examines it.

"It's a locator." Arthur said.

"Why did this guy have a locator?" Tony asked.

Gibbs grabs the locator from Tony's hand. He tosses it on the floor and stomps on it in order to break it. Suddenly, the team hears a couple small explosions. Ziva looks out the window.

"There's smoke coming from the engines to all the US vehicles." Ziva stated.

"Can someone tell me why this dude had a locator?" Tony asked.

They all look toward Arthur.

"Cuz I'm the one everybody is looking for." Arthur stated.

"You're the informant?" Gibbs asked.

"Yes." Arthur answered. "And they now know where I am."

Gibbs takes a deep breath as he realizes what this means.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

The NCIS team, along with Arthur, run out of the three-story building. They run toward the US vehicles where the three marines are. Warrant Officer Miller is examining what happen to the vehicles while the other two marines are on lookout. The team finally approaches the vehicles.

"Shit!" Warrant Officer Miller exclaimed as he slams down the hood of the Humvee.

"We have a major problem." Gibbs stated.

"Of course we do. It seems all of our vehicles have been sabotaged."

"The vehicles were sabotaged cuz Arthur is the informant. But here's the major problem. The spy I killed, the man who killed your five marines, he activated a locator. The enemy knows where Arthur is. They're gonna be coming for him."

Warrant Officer Miller looks to his two marines.

"Go to the tent and get Admiral Montgomery on the line. We need an immediate evac for the NCIS team and Arthur, ASAP."

The two marines run off to the tent. Warrant Officer Miller looks toward Gibbs.

"The two marines who brought you here, they're in the village to the South. It's not too far away. They'll come to evac all of you. So you better prepare to leave." Warrant Officer Miller stated.

"What are you gonna do?" Gibbs asked.

"Since the five of you are being evacuated, there will be no room in the transport for me and my men. So I need to make preparations to defend our position."

Warrant Officer Miller turns and runs to the tent. The team and Arthur are left looking around the village. Arthur immediately runs to the little boy playing with the ball. Tony can't help but look over at the little boy and worry about him.

As Gibbs is looking around the village, he sees the villagers sitting around and talking amongst themselves. He sees the children playing so innocently. Gibbs' heart begins beating a little bit faster as he realizes these innocent people have no idea what is soon to come. Gibbs closes his eyes and he takes a deep breath. While his eyes are closed, Gibbs has flashbacks of when he was a marine a long time ago, during Desert Storm. He finally opens his eyes. The marine eyes of Gibbs immediately begin to analyze every aspect of the village. His eyes start to see the village in a different perspective, a defensive one. Gibbs closes his eyes again. He finally opens his eyes and looks at the team.

"I want you all to evac." Gibbs stated.

"What about you?" Ziva asked.

"I can't leave." Gibbs said. "When that transport comes, I want you all out of here."

Gibbs begins to walk away, but Tony grabs him by the shoulder. Gibbs turns around to face the team.

"The General wants Arthur dead. He'll send an army to come get him. The army that comes here won't be merciful. Their invasion will be a massacre of these people. There are only three marines here. They're the only line of defense these innocent people have. The marine in me can't leave these people to be massacred." Gibbs stated. "I have experience with this type of situation. This isn't some video game. This isn't a movie. This is gonna be a real life combat situation…"

As Gibbs keeps talking, Tony's eyes wander to the little boy playing with the ball. It appears Arthur ran off to do something because he's nowhere near the boy. The boy notices Tony is looking over at him, so he waves to Tony. Tony cracks a smile.

"… I don't expect any of you to stay. I don't want any of you to stay. You're not prepared for something of this nature. There's no way I can guarantee you would make it home alive. This is way beyond anything any of you are prepared for. When that transport comes, I want you all on it. I'm ordering you all to evac." Gibbs finished talking.

Tony's eyes finally move away from looking at the little boy. His eyes quickly glance to Ziva and McGee. He then looks at Gibbs.

"I think I speak for all of us when I say… We're not leaving." Tony said.

"I gave you the order the evac. And that's what you'll do. No ifs, ands, or buts, about it. Evacuating is an order DiNozzo." Gibbs stated.

"In the past, when things got rough and you ordered us to leave, did we ever comply by your order?"

Gibbs takes a moment to himself.

"When and if we get home alive…" Gibbs begins to say. "You're all fired."

"We love you too Boss." Tony said.

Arthur finally runs over to the team.

"I'm staying too." Arthur stated.

"You're too valuable of an asset to loose. You can't stay Arthur…" Gibbs begins to say.

"I will NOT leave my people to be slaughtered! I've seen what armies in this country do! I will not leave them just to save my own skin!"

"Everybody's being stubborn today." Gibbs stated.

"You rubbed off on everyone Boss." McGee said.

"I can see that. And I can tell you right now, the marines in that tent aren't gonna like this one bit." Gibbs said.

All of them walk to the tent and go inside where they see the three marines at the end of the table. One marine is looking at the computer, while the other two are looking at a map in order to come up with a defensive strategy. Warrant Officer Miller looks over at all of them as they walk toward the end of the table close to the marines.

"I hope you're all ready to evac, cuz your transport will arrive shortly." Warrant Officer Miller said.

"I have a plan for our defense." Gibbs stated.

"Excuse me?" Warrant Officer Miller is surprised. "I have orders from Admiral Montgomery for you, your team and Arthur to evac."

"Too bad we're all being stubborn about it. We're not leaving."

Warrant Officer Miller looks to the marine at the computer.

"Get Admiral Montgomery on the line." Warrant Officer Miller stated.

There's a moment of silence until the Admiral is on the line.

"I have a situation here Sir. Agent Gibbs and his team won't evac." Warrant Officer Miller stated. He listens to what the Admiral says. He then looks to Gibbs. "The Admiral wants to speak with you Agent Gibbs."

Warrant Officer Miller extends his hand to give the phone to Gibbs. Gibbs walks over, close to the computer. He takes the phone from Warrant Officer Miller's hand. Gibbs stares him in the eyes. He then turns the phone off and puts it down.

"What's wrong with you Agent Gibbs?!" Warrant Officer Miller exclaimed. "I don't have the time to waste on you!"

"I have a plan!" Gibbs exclaimed.

The marine at the computer, Gunnery Sergeant Rick Nelson, suddenly sees something on the screen while monitoring the surveillance.

"There are two small armies mobilized to the North and Southwest. They'll soon enter the 60 mile radius of the village." Gunnery Sergeant Nelson stated.

The two marines sent in to evac Gibbs, his team and Arthur, finally arrive and enter into the tent. There's a moment of silence.

"Sir…" Gunnery Sergeant Nelson tries to get his attention. "If they're gonna evac, they need to do so now."

"What's the ETA on our reinforcements?" Warrant Officer Miller asked.

"The reinforcements have to intercept the small army coming from the Southwest then they'll come here…" Gunnery Sergeant Nelson begins to say.

"What's their ETA?!"

"It'll be at least 30 to 45 minutes after the Northern army enters the village that the reinforcements will arrive."

"They can't get anyone here quicker?!"

"You need us whether you like it or not!" Gibbs exclaimed. "There's an army on route to this village as we speak. It'll be three marines against God knows how many. I've been in this type of situation before. We only need to hold them back for 30 to 45 minutes."

There's a moment of silence while Warrant Officer Miller thinks. He's never disobeyed a direct order in his entire career, but something inside of him is telling him otherwise.

"Arthur can't be a part of this. If he dies, then all of our work here, my five marines who are already dead, all of it would've been in vain." Warrant Officer Miller stated.

"I agree." Gibbs said. "But give Arthur the guns we're not gonna use." Gibbs then looks to Arthur. "Move all of your people to the Southeastern end of the village. Arm every able-bodied person with the guns we spare. If the enemy happens to get passed us, then it's up to you to protect them. We'll try to hold the enemy off as long as possible. But if it comes down to it, you do whatever you have to do in order to protect your people."

"I'm gonna get in a lot of trouble for disobeying a direct order Agent Gibbs." Warrant Officer Miller stated. "I hope you have a good plan so I'll live long enough to actually see how much trouble I'm gonna be in."

Things fall silent as Gibbs takes a deep breath.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

After taking a couple seconds to fully collect his thoughts as he looks down at the map of the area and the list of equipment they have available. Gibbs finally looks up at everybody.

"With the direction the enemy is coming from and the layout of the village… We have a defensive advantage over them. So we need to utilize the layout." Gibbs stated. "The village lies between two mountains. The Northern section of the village slightly narrows so it's not as big of a territory to defend as the Southern section would be. The Northern entrance to the village is an elevated hill and is pretty wide open to a point. There's not much cover except a couple rock structures that jut out from the mountains on either side. After coming over the entrance, the hill, we have to make sure they don't make it to the rock structures." He said. "The two tallest buildings are at the very Northern section of the village. When facing to the North there's a two-story building on the left side and the three-story building on the right side. Luckily, each building was built up against the mountain, so they can't sneak passed us. Now, between the two buildings is wide open space. What we need to do is setup a barrier using the vehicles. We have four Humvees in total, including the one that just came in, and also a truck."

"The truck is completely busted… We won't be able to move it." Warrant Officer Miller stated.

"Then we'll just use the Humvees. Move two Humvees a couple feet inward of both buildings in order to create a wall. Unfortunately the two-story building has poor architecture since there are no windows on the northern side. So the Humvee with the 50 Cal, move it to be the innermost vehicle on that side." Gibbs stated. "Even with two Humvees setup to create a wall that protrudes outward from the buildings, there will still be a fairly large gap. We'll position ourselves along the line of the Humvees and buildings." He said. "Two of you will need to be in closer. There are two rock structures toward the middle of everything. If the enemy gets to the rock structures that jut out from the mountains, their next closest form of cover are the two rock structures in the middle area. Two of us need to be positioned at either of those rocks to better keep the enemy from reaching them."

"So who is positioned where?" Warrant Officer Miller asked. "I'll be the one to man the 50 Cal."

"Are any of you a sniper?" Gibbs asked.

"I am." Gunnery Sergeant Nelson stated.

"Here's the layout of our positioning… Tony and I will be behind the Humvee barricade by the two-story building. Warrant Officer Miller has volunteered to man the 50 Cal. Gunnery Sergeant Kipper, I want you positioned at the middle rock structure on the left side." Gibbs stated. "McGee… I want you positioned behind the Humvee barricade by the three-story building. Ziva… Position yourself in a room on the second floor of the three-story building and Sergeant Percy on the third floor. Sergeant Thompson… I want you positioned behind the middle rock structure on the right side. We need to hold these positions." He said. "Lastly, Gunnery Sergeant Nelson, I want you positioned up the mountain, on the ledge. It's the only place here that has a view over the hill."

"If he stays up there, he'll be a sitting duck." Warrant Officer Miller stated.

"True, but he won't stay up there." Gibbs said. "I noticed we have a couple barbeque-sized propane tanks. The enemy only has one route to come from. Before reaching the top of the hill to enter the village, there's a slightly wide open space due to the cutting down of trees for fire wood. We hide propane tanks in the bushes along the route the enemy will take to get here."

"You want me to snipe the propane tanks when the enemy is close to them." Gunnery Sergeant Nelson said.

"Exactly..." Gibbs said. "After you snipe the last propane tank, then rappel yourself down to the ground… It amazing we have the sufficient equipment to come down from the mountain, but not to go up."

"That's very true Sir. But I'll stay up on the ledge."

"If you stay up on the ledge, you'll definitely be a sitting duck." Gibbs said.

"I'm well aware of the risk involved with staying up there. But if I stay there, I'll be able to relay Intel on what's coming your way. I'll also be able to take out as many of the enemy as I possibly can before they even get close to the village entrance."

"It's your choice." Gibbs said. "I saw the village has a jeep…"

"That jeep hasn't worked in years Agent Gibbs." Warrant Officer Miller stated.

"We don't need it to work." Gibbs said. He turns to Arthur. "Gather a couple villagers to collect sharp objects. The jeep has the dirtiest windows, so no one can see inside of it. I want you to stuff the jeep full of the sharp objects…"

"What are you getting at Agent Gibbs?" Warrant Officer Miller asked.

"You my friend, are gonna rig the jeep to blow. We push the jeep, full of sharp objects, out into the route the enemy needs to take to get here. When enough of them surround the jeep, you detonate it." Gibbs stated.

"The blast will kill surrounding enemies and the sharp objects will kill more as they project outward in all directions due to the force." Warrant Officer Miller realized. "You smart ass."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

Gibbs looks to Arthur once more.

"Last thing I need from you is to have the strong villagers carry rocks into the three-story building. The Northern side, on the first floor there are two windows. We're not gonna use those windows at all, so I need them to be closed off with rocks. When we can, we'll help with the rocks." Gibbs said. "The sharp objects and rocks… Go do both now."

Arthur runs out of the tent. Gibbs looks to everyone still inside the tent.

"Once our Humvee barricade is in position, then pop the tires cuz we don't want possible grenades rolling under them. Also, we need to siphon the gas out of all the vehicles to make as many Molotov Cocktails as we can possible can." Gibbs puts his hand on Tony's shoulder. "We're gonna put that athletic arm of yours to good use."

Gunnery Sergeant Nelson is still sitting at the computer. He glances down when a light begins flashing.

"We have a problem. It appears the enemy is slightly larger then expected. Intel indicates that the General is using a Warlord's army to invade." Gunnery Sergeant Nelson stated. "And they officially entered into the 60 mile radius."

"Place claymores behind each of the rock structures that jut out from the mountain. Then place the rest around the entrance area." Gibbs said. "We have two AT4's and six rockets. Gunnery Sergeant Kipper and Sergeant Percy, both of you take an AT4 and divide the rockets." He stated. "Me, Sergeant Percy and Ziva will take the M16's equipped with the M203 grenade launcher. Everyone else will take the regular M16's. The rest of the guns will go to Arthur."

"Now all we need are codenames." Warrant Officer Miller stated.

"Gunnery Sergeant Nelson is Tango 4… Gunnery Sergeant Kipper is Romeo 3… Sergeant Thompson is Oscar 3… Sergeant Percy is Charlie 2… Ziva is Delta 2… McGee is Echo 2… Warrant Officer Miller is Bravo 1… Gibbs, me, is Alpha 1… And lastly, Tony is Whipped 1." Gibbs stated.

All the marines try hard to not laugh as Ziva and McGee bust out laughing.

"Oh come on! Are you kidding me?!" Tony objects to the codename he was given.

"No I'm not." Gibbs said. "Do you have a problem with your codename Whipped 1?"

"I guess not." Tony sighs.

"Let's get to it people. We don't have much time."

All of the marines, except for one leave the tent. Gibbs notices Gunnery Sergeant Kipper, the marine who didn't leave, is a little anxious as he's breathing a little more heavily.

"Is there something wrong Romeo 3?" Gibbs asked.

"I can't do this… I'm not even supposed to be here!" Gunnery Sergeant Kipper exclaimed. "The others… They were assigned to come here. I'm close to going home, so I volunteered to come here in order to not get killed. But look what's happening." He said as he gets slightly teary-eyed. "I just wanna go home to meet my daughter."

"I know this is hard. I understand. But ask yourself this… If you don't make a stand today, if you don't do everything you can to protect the innocent people of this village, then how will you live with yourself? When your children start asking you about what you did as a marine, will you be able to tell them you chickened out on a single day cuz you just wanted to go home? Your wife and children think of you as a hero, are you gonna let them down? Are you gonna let them believe their father isn't the hero they thought?" Gibbs asked. "When I was a marine, I took part in a similar situation such as this. Something happened and I messed up. My mistake cost the lives of three innocent people. And I gotta live with that for the rest of my life. It's a haunting memory that drives me so hard to do what I do. I admit… At one point I quit. But I'm sure as hell not gonna quit on these people. I can't." Gibbs points to his team. "Look at them." He points to Tony. "That's Anthony DiNozzo… He's been a cop for God knows how long. He's a damn good investigator. He has no combat experience. But he's staying." He then points to McGee. "That's Timothy McGee… He graduated MIT and is highly skilled with computers. He's another good investigator. He has no combat experience. But he's staying." Lastly, he points to Ziva. "That's Ziva David. She's a Mossad agent working for NCIS. She has slightly different experiences then Tony and McGee. But no real combat experience. She's also staying… All three of them have no combat experience, but their staying cuz they know it's the right thing to do." He said. Gibbs paused for a second. "I also wanna go home to my daughter." He points to Tony. "And I need to bring him home alive. I promised my daughter to bring him home unharmed. Unharmed is definitely an understatement at this point, but he needs to make it back home alive, so he can marry my daughter on Sunday night…" Gibbs continues talking.

The team is now shocked and surprised as they look at each other. Ziva leans toward Tony.

"You told him about the wedding?" Ziva asked.

"No, I didn't." Tony replied.

"Then how does he know?"

"I got no idea."

"… I trust the three of them with my life. I trust them to give everything 100, even this. They're all gonna protect these villagers the best they can." Gibbs points to Tony again. "There's a little boy in this village who he doesn't wanna see get hurt. I know he's gonna do everything he can to make sure that doesn't happen." He said. "With 63 innocent people in this village… With your family back home… How can you let any of them down?"

"I can't." Gunnery Sergeant Kipper said. "I won't."

"Then get out there Romeo 3."

Gunnery Sergeant Kipper, Romeo 3, runs out of the tent in order to help with the preparations. Gibbs takes a deep breath then they all walk out of the tent.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

For a while now, everybody in the village has been preparing for the enemy invasion which is soon to come. A couple marines entered the village, from the North, after pushing the village jeep out in a good position. The majority of people are putting the rocks into the three-story building to block the two windows on the Northern side. Warrant Officer Miller, Bravo 1, approaches Gibbs.

"The jeep is in place and ready to blow. While I was out there, I setup a couple spike strips down the road." Bravo 1 stated.

"Where did you get spike strips?" Gibbs asked.

"We acquired them a long time ago. Two people were placing them in the road to the South. They weren't expecting us to come around when we did, so we saw the strips being placed. So we took them."

"That's a good thing cuz those will disable the use of enemy vehicles."

"I place three rows of spike strips. If they move the first, they'll have to deal with the second and third. By the third they might have gotten smart."

"You should get into position up at the entrance."

Warrant Officer Miller, Bravo 3, runs to the Northern entrance. Gibbs walks to the mountain in order to continue moving the rocks.

Meanwhile, Tony is off to the side making the Molotov Cocktails. As he's stuffing a cloth into the bottled, half-filled with gas, Arthur walks over to him with a couple villagers.

"Your guns are right here." Tony points to the side where a couple extra guns were placed.

They all pick up the extra guns. The armed villagers, except for Arthur, walk away. Arthur sits next to Tony and picks up a bottle. He grabs the large container filled with gas and pours the gas into the bottle. After filling the bottle halfway, he hands it to Tony. Tony begins stuffing a cloth into the bottle.

"Thanks for the help Arthur." Tony said.

"You're welcome." Arthur said.

As the two of them continue making the Molotov Cocktails, Arthur notices something. He notices Tony looking to the side at the little boy playing with the ball.

"If there's anything you wanna ask me about him, feel free." Arthur stated.

"What's his name?" Tony asked. "Gibbs told me what you told him about the boy's family in all."

"Yeah, it was a tragedy. The boy lost everything. I never knew the boy before the incident, so I always knew him as not being able to speak. In regards to his name, I honestly have no idea. The boy can't write his name cuz he doesn't know how to write. I was left trying to guess his name…"

"Did you ever guess his name correctly?"

"No… And he doesn't wanna be renamed. He likes his original name. But for the time being, he likes being called by his nickname."

"What's his nickname?"

"His nickname is Kid." Arthur stated. "Don't even ask… He's the one who likes it. I tried seeing if I can call him by another nickname, but he always liked, Kid, the best."

"Kid, eh." Tony smiles as he finally knows what the boy is officially called.

"It looks like we're done with these."

"Thanks for the help Arthur."

"No problem."

Arthur grabs his gun, stands up and walks away. Tony watches as Arthur walks over to Kid.

Tony finally looks to the side and begins putting the Molotov Cocktails into a box. After the box is full, Tony stands up. He turns and leans down to lift the box. After lifting the box, a ball hits his foot. Tony laughs as he knew who was in the area. Tony put the box down. He turns to the side to see Kid standing there.

"I finally know what to call you. Arthur told me you like being called Kid."

Kid nods in agreement. Kid then stuffs his hand into his pocket. He pulls out Tony's MP3 player and holds it up to give it back to Tony. Tony extends his hand in order to take the MP3 player from Kid's hand. Tony places his fingers onto the MP3 player in order to take it. Tony suddenly moves his hand so he can wrap Kid's fingers around the device.

"Keep it Kid." Tony smiled. "It's yours now."

Kid becomes excited as Tony let him have the MP3 player, even though he's not exactly sure what it is to begin with. Kid stuffs the MP3 player back into his pocket. He then walks forward and wraps his arms around Tony.

Off in the distance, Arthur sees Kid giving Tony a hug. It brings a smile to Arthur's face. At another end of the village, Gibbs also sees Kid giving Tony a hug. It also brings a smile to his face as well.

Kid finally backs away from Tony. He then takes the simple-beaded necklace off from around his neck. Kid extends his hand up to give Tony his necklace. Tony takes the necklace and puts it around his neck.

"Thanks Kid. I love it."

Kid smiles as he sees Tony likes what he gave him. He then runs away. Tony turns to the side, leans down and lifts the box in order to bring it over to the Humvee.

With not much time left, Arthur moves all the villagers to the Southeastern side of the village. Gibbs walks into the tent real quick as the rest of the team and the marines get into their positions. Once inside the tent, Gibbs walks toward the back, places his gun on cot and kneels down. He closes his eyes and begins to pray.

"I know I haven't done this in ages. For the longest time I blamed you for taking Shannon and Kelly away from me… I do have Kelly back now, but as Jamie cuz that's the name she lived with for the majority of her life. Jamie and Tony are getting married on Sunday night. Before coming here, Jamie asked me to keep Tony safe and to bring him back unharmed. Well… The unharmed part of that might be a little impossible with what's gonna occur soon… But I…" Gibbs begins to say as a couple tears fall from his eyes. "I gave her a promise. I'd do anything for my daughter. She's so happy being with Tony. But we're here, in a situation that might kill us. And all I ask of you is to make sure Tony makes it home alive." He said. "You can take my life here today… But please don't take his. If one of us is gonna die today… Take me. Just please… Please let Tony make it home alive."

Gibbs finally opens his eyes and stands up. He grabs his gun and walks out of the tent in order to get into position.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

**CHAPTER NOTE:** So you don't have to go back to find out who is who, in regards to codenames, at the start of each chapter that deals with the enemy invasion, all defending people will be mentioned before the chapter starts. I'll have a list of who is who and their position. All positions are that of facing north.

Alpha 1 – Gibbs – Behind pair of Humvee on left side.

Whipped 1 – Tony – Behind pair of Humvees on left side.

Bravo 1 – Warrant Officer Miller – At start, up over the hill, but then mans the 50 Cal on the Humvee at the left side.

Tango 4 – Gunnery Sergeant Nelson – Sniper, on mountain ledge on left side.

Romeo 3 – Gunnery Sergeant Kipper – Behind middle rock on left side.

Oscar 3 – Sergeant Thompson – Behind middle rock on right side.

Charlie 2 – Sergeant Percy – Inside three-story building on right side, third floor.

Delta 2 – Ziva – Inside three-story building on right side, second floor.

Echo 2 – McGee – Behind pair of Humvees on right side.

**Chapter 11**

Everybody who is going to take part in defended the town in their assigned positions ready for what's to come. As they all wait, from the mountain ledge, Tango 4 finally notices something in the distance.

"We got company approaching fast." Tango 4 stated. "At the moment, I only have a visual on the dust that's being kicked upward. But they're definitely coming in hot. ETA… 10 minutes."

"You heard him people. Prepare yourselves." Alpha 1 said.

All positioned people are now pointing their guns toward the Northern entrance to the village. Bravo 1 is waiting up by the entrance, behind a couple rocks over the hill, waiting for Tango 4 to give the word to detonate the village jeep. Back in the village, behind the pair of Humvees on the left side, Whipped 1 begins taking a couple deep breaths. Alpha 1 turns his head to look at Whipped 1.

"Are you alright?" Alpha 1 asked.

"I've never been so scared in my entire life. I never thought this is how it would feel." Whipped 1 replied.

"It's a normal reaction for a person's first combat situation. It never truly goes away. But after a while, it's not as bad cuz you're used to being in this type of situation."

"I doubt I'll ever be used to this type of situation."

"Maybe if you joined the Marine Corps you'd get used to it."

"Hell no!" Whipped 1 exclaimed. "This is gonna be my first and last."

Alpha 1 looks back toward the Northern entrance. There's a moment of silence between them.

"Thanks for staying Tony. It means a lot for you and the others to still be here in this type of situation."

"There are innocent people here Gibbs. Staying was the right thing to do."

"Before this goes down… I just wanna say… Before coming here, Jamie told me about the wedding…"

"I bet you enjoyed messing with me."

"I definitely did… But I wanna clear something up with you. The whole thing about not rushing into getting married, when I said… A marriage that's rushed into has more of a chance of ending in divorce… It's not always true. That was an issue with my three ex-wives. But if two people are meant to be with each other, then a rushed marriage makes no difference. Me and Shannon rushed into getting married and she was the best wife I ever had. We were a perfect match. And I honestly think you and Jamie are too." He then turns his head to face Tony. "When I said I always thought of you as a son… I meant it." He then turns his head back to face the Northern entrance.

"Thanks Gibbs."

"The enemy reached the first set of spike strips." Tango 4 stated. "It'll take a minute for them to clear the area to continue pushing forward."

Up the road, a bunch of men get out of some trucks in order to help push the vehicles, with the popped tires, to the side. Once the vehicles are pushed out of the way enough and the spike strip is removed, a couple other vehicles push forward.

"They should be approaching the second spike strip soon." Tango 4 stated.

The enemy reaches the second spike strip and a couple more vehicles have been disabled with popped tires. This time, the vehicles are going to take more time to clear and they can't waste too much more time. A large group of men get out of a bunch of vehicles and begin walking toward the village as others try to clear the area for the rest of the vehicles to get through. The large group of men come across the third, the last, spike strip and remove it. Then they all continue walking to the village.

"The enemy is entering into the wide open space." Tango 4 stated. "Bravo 1… Detonate the jeep on my mark."

Tango 4 continues watching the enemies approach. He waits until a large group of enemy is basically surrounding the jeep.

"Bravo 1, hold… Hold…" Tango 4 finally sees the perfect opportunity. "Now!"

Bravo 1 turns a switch then immediately begins running to the Humvee with the 50 Cal. After turning the switch, the jeep explodes, instantly killing a large group of enemies. The sharp objects that are inside the jeep shoot out in all directions. The sharp objects begin to take down even more enemies. The jeep, which was launched into the air, finally hits the ground and rolls over a couple people. When the smoke cleared, Tango 4 is able to see a whole bunch of dead bodies and severely injured enemies lying on the ground around the area.

As Bravo 1 continues running into the village to get to the Humvee with the 50 Cal, Tango 4 begins sniping the propane tanks as enemies are close enough to them. After the final propane tank is sniped, the first wave of troops has been severely disabled. The enemies in the wide open space, left alive and unharmed from the blasts, begin to move to the sides.

"The enemy is moving in order to allow three trucks with heavy fire-power to get thru." Tango 4 stated.

Bravo 1 finally reaches the Humvee and gets in. He pops his body up in order to man the 50 Cal. Romeo 3 and Charlie 2 prepare their AT4's.

"Two trucks lined up with the middle rocks… One truck in-between." Tango 4 stated.

"Romeo 3… Take out the truck lined up with your rock." Alpha 1 stated. "Charlie 2… Take out the truck lined up with Oscar 3's rock." He said. "Bravo 1… Take the middle truck."

Tango 4 continues watching the trucks.

"Trucks entering the village in… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…"

The three trucks come into view by rolling over the hill. Immediately, Bravo 1 begins shooting at the middle truck with the 50 Cal, while rockets are launched at the other two trucks. The outer trucks blowup instantly and the middle truck finally flipped over due to having the tires shot. All three trucks either slide or flip down the hill a little bit.

After the three trucks being taken out, the enemies who are on foot start running toward the Northern entrance to the village.

"A lot of enemies are still trying to clear the road for more vehicles to get thru. But the enemy in the wide open space has regrouped and is on route." Tango 4 stated. "Alpha 1… Do I have permission to commence sniping at will?"

"Permission granted!" Alpha 1 exclaimed. "Take them out!"

From the mountain ledge, Tango 4 aims his sniper rifle toward the enemy crowd and begins sniping as many enemies as he possibly can. The enemy crowd reaches the hill. As the enemy crowd is coming over the hill, they're finally in view and everybody in the defending positions start shooting at them.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

**CHAPTER NOTE:** Reminder of who is who in regards to codenames and their position on the battlefield. All positions are that of facing North.

Alpha 1 – Gibbs – Behind pair of Humvees on left side.

Whipped 1 – Tony – Behind pair of Humvees on left side.

Bravo 1 – Warrant Officer Miller – Manned the 50 Cal on the Humvee at the left side.

Tango 4 – Gunnery Sergeant Nelson – Sniper, on mountain ledge on left side.

Romeo 3 – Gunnery Sergeant Kipper – Behind middle rock on left side.

Oscar 3 – Sergeant Thompson – Behind middle rock on right side.

Charlie 2 – Sergeant Percy – Inside three-story building on right side, third floor.

Delta 2 – Ziva – Inside three-story building on right side, second floor.

Echo 2 – McGee – Behind pair of Humvees on right side.

**Chapter 12**

Everybody in the defending position continues shooting at the enemy force as they're coming over the hill. As they enemy is coming over the hill, they're shooting back. Bullets continue flying all over the place. As the enemy becomes larger and a little too much to handle, the enemy is finally able to reach the rocks. When the enemy reaches the rocks, the claymores explode in their faces.

After all claymores being triggered to explode, everybody is left trying to keep the enemy from advancing any further. The bullets continue flying through the air.

"There's so many of them." Whipped 1 said.

On the right side, Gibbs sees four enemies trying to run to the rocks. He aims his M16 in their direction and launches a grenade at them. The grenade hits the ground and explodes, killing all four of them. Gibbs ducks behind the Humvee in order to reload the M203 with another grenade. Then he immediately pops back up and continues shooting.

Up on the mountain ledge, Tango 4 sees another set of vehicles advancing toward the village entrance. Unfortunately, with the crowd of enemies, trying to determine an exact point of entry is proving to be a challenge due to the vehicles having to move around through the crowd.

"We have two jeeps incoming!" Tango 4 exclaimed. "I'm unable to determine an exact entry point. Best estimate is from the left side."

Romeo 3 ducks behind the rock and grabs the AT4. Bravo 1 starts shooting the 50 Cal more toward the left side in order to prepare for when the jeeps enter into view.

On the right side, Echo 2 notices a rifle behind the furthest rock structure. The rifle is moving to be aimed at the man on the 50 Cal.

"Delta 2… Enemy behind the furthest rock. I have no shot!" Echo 2 exclaimed.

From the second floor of the three-story building, Delta 2 aims slightly behind the rock structure. She pulls the trigger of the M203 and a grenade launches. The grenade hits the ground and explodes, but a shot was also fired. The enemy's body goes flying into air as a bullet races toward Bravo 1. The bullet penetrates into Bravo 1's shoulder so he falls into the Humvee.

"Bravo 1… Are you alright?" Alpha 1 asked.

"You'll have to take out the jeep!" Bravo 1 exclaimed as he's trying to quickly patch himself up by placing the Humvee cigarette lighter on the wound.

"Whipped 1… Move to my left side." Alpha 1 said.

Whipped 1 stops firing and quickly moves to Alpha 1's left side.

"Jeeps entering village in… 10…" Tango 4 starts the countdown.

Once Whipped 1 is back into a firing position and Tango 4 is now counting, Alpha 1 puts his gun down and quickly climbs on top of the Humvee. Alpha 1 lies over the top of the Humvee and grabs the 50 Cal and points it toward the left side.

The two jeeps finally roll over the hill. A rocket is launched from Romeo 3's position as Alpha 1 begins firing the 50 Cal from his awkward position. One jeep explodes from the rocket. The other jeep finally flips over after the driver lost control from being shot with the 50 Cal. After both jeeps being taken out, Alpha 1 begins to roll off the Humvee. A bullet goes racing through the air and nicks Alpha 1 in the leg as he's rolling off the Humvee. He lands on the ground, moves, and grabs his M16. A little bit of blood begins to form on his leg, but it's only a minor wound. Alpha 1 stands up and starts firing at the enemy again as if nothing even happened.

After a couple more seconds, Bravo 1 finally pops back into position and mans the 50 Cal with his hurt shoulder. He starts firing the 50 Cal toward the middle of the village entrance.

A large group of enemies try making a run toward the rocks on the left side. Alpha 1 and Whipped 1 are both shooting at them. Three of the enemies are able to make it behind one of the rock structures.

"Getting a Molotov Cocktail." Whipped 1 stated as he ducked behind the Humvee.

Alpha 1 continues shooting as Whipped 1 lights the cloth to a Molotov Cocktail. Once to the cloth is lit, he stands up and tosses it toward the rock where the three enemies are. After the Molotov Cocktail is thrown, Whipped 1 ducks back behind the Humvee in order to grab his M16. The Molotov Cocktail finally lands on the mountain side where the rock begins to jut out from it. It causes an explosion where one enemy dies instantly and the other two run out while on fire. Alpha 1 and Whipped 1 shoot at those two enemies in order to kill them.

"Truck approaching… Right side." Tango 4 stated.

From the third floor of the three-story building, Charlie 2 gets behind the wall. He puts his gun down and grabs the AT4.

"Charlie 2, prepared for truck takedown." Charlie 2 said.

"Truck entering in… 5…" Tango 4 continues counting.

As Tango 4 continues counting, Charlie 2 moves into position at the window. Delta 2 launches a grenade toward the rock structure in order to take out the enemies trying to aim at the third floor. The enemies aiming at Charlie 2 are killed. The truck finally moves over the hill. From the third floor, a rocket is launched at the truck. The driver tries to turn, but the back end of the truck explodes forcing the truck to flip forward. Charlie 2 puts the AT4 down and picks up the M16. He points it out the window and begins firing again.

"We have to keep them from reaching the rocks!" Alpha 1 exclaimed.

"And the broken down vehicles too." Oscar 3 added.

A rocket goes racing through the air towards the innermost Humvee on the right side. Echo 2 dives closer to the three-story building as he notices what is coming his way. The rocket finally hits the innermost Humvee. The Humvee explodes.

Alpha 1 quickly glances over in the direction of the exploded Humvee.

"Echo 2… Are you ok?" Alpha 1 asked in concern for McGee.

"I saw it coming." Echo 2 replied.

Echo 2 brushes a couple Humvee parts off of himself. He stands up, positions himself behind the second Humvee on the right side, the one closest to the three-story building. Echo 2 begins firing at the enemy once again.

"Incoming jeep right side!" Tango 4 exclaimed.

Charlie 2 prepares the AT4 with his last rocket.

"Jeep entering in… 10…" Tango 4 continues counting.

Charlie 2 waits until the count is down to five, then he moves into position at the window. Behind a busted vehicle on the right side, two enemies point their guns at the third floor. Before Oscar 3 could shoot them, each of the two enemies were able to fire a shot. Two bullets go racing through the air toward the third floor window. The two bullets hit Charlie 2. He falls down.

The jeep finally moves over the hill to come into view. The jeep continues pushing forward down the hill. Echo 2 and Oscar 3 try shooting at the jeep as Delta 2 begins running up to the third floor of the three-story building.

With the little bit of strength Charlie 2 had left, he grabs the AT4. He moves into position as best as he could. He aims the AT4 at the jeep and fires. The rocket goes racing toward the jeep. The rocket hits the ground, near the side of the jeep. The force of the blow causes the jeep to flip over. Charlie 2 drops the AT4 and falls back to the floor as Delta 2 enters the room. Charlie 2 now lies dead on the floor.

"We have a man down… Charlie 2 is gone." Delta 2 stated.

Delta 2 grabs Charlie 2's extra ammo. She moves to another room on the third floor and positions herself at the window. She notices five enemies behind a busted vehicle. She launches a grenade toward a busted vehicle. The grenade explodes, killing the five enemies behind it. Delta 2 now begins shooting at the enemies from her new position.

As the enemy continues their effort to invade the village, everybody keeps shooting at them. The bullets continue flying through the air as the battle continues.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

**CHAPTER NOTE:** Reminder of who is who in regards to codenames and their position on the battlefield. All positions are that of facing North.

Alpha 1 – Gibbs – Behind pair of Humvees on left side.

Whipped 1 – Tony – Behind pair of Humvees on left side.

Bravo 1 – Warrant Officer Miller – Manned the 50 Cal on the Humvee at the left side.

Tango 4 – Gunnery Sergeant Nelson – Sniper, on mountain ledge on left side.

Romeo 3 – Gunnery Sergeant Kipper – Behind middle rock on left side.

Oscar 3 – Sergeant Thompson – Behind middle rock on right side.

Delta 2 – Ziva – Inside three-story building on right side, third floor.

Echo 2 – McGee – Behind Humvee on right side.

Charlie 2 – Sergeant Percy – Dead.

**Chapter 13**

As the battle continues at the Northern section of the village, off in the distance to the South, Arthur is clinching the gun he was given. He wants so badly to help, but knows he shouldn't. All Arthur can do is watch and hope they'll be able to hold the enemy back long enough, until reinforcements arrive. He watches as a Molotov Cocktail is thrown into the air.

The Molotov Cocktail lands in a spot right in front of three enemies. It explodes and the three enemies are burned alive in the fire. Tony lights another Molotov Cocktail and tosses it toward a busted vehicle that a few enemies are using as cover.

"Delta 2… Behind the furthest rock!" Echo 2 exclaimed. Then he points his M16 to another direction and shoots at a running enemy.

Delta 2 aims the M203 toward the furthest rock and launches a grenade. She then ducks behind the wall in order to reload the M203. The grenade hits, explodes and kills the two enemies behind the rock.

From behind a busted vehicle, an enemy throws a grenade toward the Humvees on the left side. Alpha 1 saw the enemy as he was about to let go of the grenade, so he quickly moves. He grabs Whipped 1 and brings him to the ground. He pushes Whipped 1 against the Humvee and gets slightly on top of him in order to shield him from the explosion. The grenade finally reaches the area and bounces off the two-story building and explodes. The shrapnel from the grenade is projected outward. Three pieces of shrapnel hit Alpha 1. Two pieces just nick his arm and side. But the third piece of shrapnel penetrates into Alpha 1's back, up by his shoulder blade. The blood quickly begins to flow.

In pain, Alpha 1 rolls off. Whipped 1 immediately moves to Alpha 1's aid. Alpha 1 pushes him off.

"I'll need you in a minute… For now keep fighting!" Alpha 1 exclaimed.

Whipped 1 grabs his M16, stands up, moves into position and continues shooting at the enemy. Alpha 1 rolls onto his right side. He grabs thick stick, puts it across his mouth and bites down on it. He reaches over his left shoulder. Alpha 1 pushes his fingers into the shrapnel wound while biting down on the stick. He finally pulls the piece of shrapnel out of himself. Alpha 1 takes the stick out of mouth.

"Tony, get over here!" Alpha 1 exclaimed.

Whipped 1 stops firing at the enemy and ducks behind the Humvees in order to aid Alpha 1.

"Oh my God! You're bleeding like crazy…" Whipped 1 stated in concern. "What do you want me to do?"

"Take this lighter and burn it." Alpha 1 stated.

Whipped 1 takes the lighter from Alpha 1's hand. Alpha 1 grabs the stick and places it back over his mouth and bites down on it. Whipped 1 gets behind Alpha 1. As blood continues flowing, Whipped 1 rolls the lighter switch. When he's got a flame, he quickly wipes the blood from Alpha 1's back, shoulder area, and then places the flame up against the wound. Alpha 1's face turns red in agony. After 30 seconds Alpha 1 spits the stick out.

"Forget about me… Keep fighting!" Alpha 1 exclaimed.

Even though he didn't want to leave Gibbs, he knew he had to. Whipped 1 gets up, grabs his M16, moves back into position and continues firing. Alpha 1 stays on the ground for a couple seconds. Alpha 1 finally stands up and grabs his M16 in order to continue shooting at the enemy as well. Whipped 1 is shocked at Alpha 1's endurance from what just happened.

"There's no time for pain in combat." Alpha 1 stated.

Suddenly two enemies, behind a busted vehicle with RPG's, aim the weapons toward the three-story building. Delta 2 sees this and launches a grenade in their direction. The grenade explodes but two rockets are launched. The rockets were launched a second after the grenade went off, so the aim was a bit off. The two rockets hit the side of the building, at the second floor. The side of the building explodes and the debris begins to fall onto Echo 2's position. The blast occurred below Delta 2's position from the third floor. The floor of the room collapses underneath her. From Echo 2's position, he tries to jump out of the way while the building debris falls on his position behind the Humvee. Smoke and dust consume the area.

Alpha 1 notices what happens over on the right side.

"Delta 2… Echo 2… Are you two alright?" Alpha 1 asked in concern.

There's a moment of silence of hearing nothing from either of them.

"Ziva… McGee… Answer me!" Alpha 1 exclaimed.

Over the hill, Tango 4 notices two enemies are preparing to start tossing grenades over the hill. As both enemies take the pin out of the grenade, Tango 4 aims his sniper rifle at one of their heads. He pulls the trigger. The bullet goes racing through the air. The bullet penetrates into the enemy's head, killing him and forcing the grenade to drop out of his hand. The grenade explodes, killing the other enemy who was about to toss a grenade. Tango 4 continues sniping as many enemies as he can.

Suddenly, an RPG is aimed at the mountain ledge. A rocket is launched. The rocket races toward the mountain ledge. Tango 4 never sees the rocket coming until it's too late. The mountain explodes and Tango 4's body is flung into the air and drops to the ground below. Tango 4's dead body lies on the ground.

After the sniper being taken out, a bunch of enemies stole the grenade tossing idea. A group of enemies all prepare a grenade to be tossed over the hill. They each pull the pin on their grenade and throw them over the hill.

The defenders seek cover from the raining grenades. The grenades begin to explode all over the place. After the final explosion, Alpha 1 pops up from behind the Humvee in order to keep shooting. Everyone else continues shooting as well.

"Romeo 3… Oscar 3… Fall back! Fall back!" Alpha 1 exclaimed.

Romeo 3 quickly looks over to the other middle rock and notices Oscar 3 isn't moving.

"Man down!" Romeo 3 exclaimed. "Oscar 3 is gone."

"Romeo 3... Fall back!" Alpha 1 exclaimed again.

As whoever is left tries to provide cover fire, Romeo 3 makes his retreat. Just seconds after he makes his dash in the direction of the Humvees, a second wave of grenades are thrown. The grenades begin to explode all over the place again. As the smoke and dust clears, Alpha 1 sees Romeo 3 lying on the ground.

Romeo 3 tries to stand, but two bullets suddenly penetrate into his upper leg and lower back. Romeo 3 falls. The man was blown-up and shot twice. He's hardly able to move. He just lies on the ground, trying to use his uninjured left arm to drag himself toward the Humvees.

An enemy bullet goes racing through the air in Romeo 3's direction. The bullet penetrates into his leg. He screams in agony. A grenade now explodes somewhere in front of him, but not close. Smoke and dust are flung into the air, blocking all view of Romeo 3. Alpha 1 has no idea if the third bullet killed him or not.

After the two waves of raining grenades, the enemy force that regrouped, now runs over the hill. Bullets continue flying through the air as the enemy keeps trying to invade the village. The smoke and dust finally clear and Alpha 1 is now able to see Romeo 3. Alpha 1's heart is beating rapidly as he realizes Romeo 3 is still alive. He looks into the fallen man's fearful eyes as he lies helplessly on the ground, reaching for Alpha 1 to help him.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

**CHAPTER NOTE:** Reminder of who is who in regards to codenames and their position on the battlefield. All positions are that of facing North.

Alpha 1 – Gibbs – Behind pair of Humvees on left side.

Whipped 1 – Tony – Behind pair of Humvees on left side.

Bravo 1 – Warrant Officer Miller – Manned the 50 Cal on the Humvee at the left side.

Romeo 3 – Gunnery Sergeant Kipper – Fallen Man on left side.

Delta 2 – Ziva – Status: Unconfirmed.

Echo 2 – McGee – Status: Unconfirmed.

Charlie 2 – Sergeant Percy – Dead.

Oscar 3 – Sergeant Thompson – Dead.

Tango 4 – Gunnery Sergeant Nelson – Dead.

**Chapter 14**

As the situation has become increasingly hostile, the enemy continues pursuing their invasion of the village. The exchange of gun fire continues. Romeo 3 still lies helplessly on the ground reaching for Alpha 1 to come get him. Alpha 1's heart beats rapidly as he clinches his gun. He sees the look on Romeo 3's face and realizes what he must do. He quickly turns to Whipped 1.

"I'm going in… Cover me." Alpha 1 stated.

"Gibbs… You can't be serious." Whipped 1 said.

Alpha 1 begins to move away and Whipped 1 quickly grabs him by the shoulder. Alpha 1 turns to face him.

"It's suicide." Whipped 1 stated.

"I can't leave a man behind!" Alpha 1 exclaimed. "I just can't."

Whipped 1 looks into the eyes of his boss… His mentor… His friend… His future father-in-law… As much as Whipped 1 didn't want to let him go, he finally opens his hand to free Alpha 1 from his grasp. Whipped 1 turns back to the battle and keeps firing.

Alpha 1 grabs a Molotov Cocktail and moves along the Humvees until he gets to the back end of the Humvee closest to the two-story building. A gap was left between the two. He lights the cloth of the Molotov Cocktail and takes a deep breath. He then throws the Molotov Cocktail and begins his run toward the fallen man, Romeo 3.

While making his run, Alpha 1 continues shooting at the enemy as best he can. Whipped 1 and Bravo 1 provide cover fire. As Alpha 1 is running out to the fallen man, Whipped 1 can't help but glance over in his direction every once in a while. Alpha 1 finally reaches the fallen man. But as he gets there, he notices a jeep rolls over the hill.

Alpha 1 makes a quick dash to the middle rock, just a couple feet away, where Romeo 3 left the AT4 with one final rocket. As the jeep advances more, Alpha 1 grabs the AT4 and aims it at the jeep. He presses the button in order to fire. The rocket races through the air toward the jeep. As the jeep explodes, Alpha 1 runs back to the fallen man.

"Come on Gibbs, hurry." Whipped 1 says softly to himself.

Alpha 1 grabs Romeo 3 and lifts him up a bit. He places the fallen man over his shoulders and stands up. With trying to not feel the pain of having Romeo 3's body pressing up against his shrapnel wound, he starts running back toward the Humvees, to get to safety.

Suddenly, a bullet goes racing through the air in Alpha 1's direction. The bullet penetrates into Alpha 1's lower, left side, forcing him to fall. Both Alpha 1 and the fallen man, Romeo 3, hit the ground. In pain, Alpha 1 lies on his right side, holding the new wound on his lower, left side.

Whipped 1 can only, helplessly, look over at the two of them lying on the ground as he keeps firing at the enemy from behind the Humvees. He sees a couple enemies advancing in Alpha 1's direction. He aims and fires at them. A grenade is launched from the right side. It lands close to the enemies and blows them up.

"Get your ass up Gibbs!" Delta 2 exclaimed.

Whipped 1 quickly glances over toward the Humvee on the right side, by the three-story building. He then looks back to the Northern entrance and keeps firing.

"Good to have you back Ziva." Whipped 1 stated. "How's McGee?!"

"His leg is injured, but I'm standing him up now." Delta 2 stated.

Delta 2 helps Echo 2 to stand. She leans Echo 2 up against the Humvee to support him. Echo 2 and Delta 2 are now providing more cover fire.

"Gibbs, look at me!" Whipped 1 exclaimed.

While on the ground, Alpha 1 moves his head to look back at Whipped 1.

"Don't give up. There's no time for pain in combat." Whipped 1 said. "Jamie needs you."

For Jamie, Alpha 1 forces himself to stand. With his hands, he grabs Romeo 3 by the shoulders and begins dragging him in the direction of the Humvees. Alpha 1 tries so hard to not feel the pain of his wounds. Cover fire is provided for Alpha 1 and the fallen man, Romeo 3.

Alpha 1 is finally able to drag the fallen man, Romeo 3, behind the cover of the Humvees. Both of them are now sitting up against the Humvee. Alpha 1, in more pain then he expected, looks to Whipped 1, who is reloading his weapon.

"Stand me up!" Alpha 1 exclaimed.

Whipped 1 reloads Alpha 1's weapons as well. He takes hold of Alpha 1 and helps him stand. Alpha 1 leans against the Humvee. Whipped 1 grabs his M16 and the two of them commence firing at the enemy.

Suddenly, an enemy aims his sniper rifle at Bravo 1. With Bravo 1's head in the crosshairs, he pulls the trigger. The bullet goes racing through the air and eventually penetrates into Bravo 1's head. Bravo 1's dead body falls into the Humvee. Now, it's only the NCIS team left to hold off the enemy force until their reinforcements arrive.

The enemy now tosses a bunch of grenades toward the Humvees. Each of the NCIS team members ducks behind their Humvee for cover. As the grenades explode in front or slightly on top of the Humvees, they all reload their weapons. After they reload their weapons, both Gibbs and Tony light Molotov Cocktails. Tony gets up slightly and tosses his. He then grabs Gibbs' Molotov Cocktail and tosses it as well. He then ducks behind the Humvee as more grenades coming raining down.

As the grenades are exploding, Tony looks off toward the Southeast, toward the unmovable US truck. Tony eyes widen as he sees Kid walk out from behind the truck and begin walking in his direction. Kid is walking into a wide open space. Even further to the South, Arthur, who has been watching the battle the entire time is running to go get Kid.

"Kid… Go back!" Tony exclaimed.

With the amount of explosions and the exchange of gun fire, Kid is unable to hear even Arthur who has been yelling for him to stop. Without hesitation, Tony stands up and bolts into the wide open space, in the Southeastern direction where Kid is coming from. Ziva and McGee are already shooting at the enemy. Gibbs pulls himself up to provide more cover fire.

Kid finally stops in the wide open space after a couple stray bullets hit the ground in front of him. He's frightened by it and just stands there, not knowing what to do because of how scared he is now. Kid's face is that of pure fear as he begins to cry.

Tony runs as fast as he possibly can. Kid throws his arms up into the air as Tony gets close. Tony quickly grabs and lifts Kid into his arms. Kid wraps his arms around Tony's neck. With Kid holding onto him, Tony runs behind the truck. He sits down, leans against the truck and holds onto Kid tightly.

Arthur finally reaches the truck. He positions himself behind the hood of the truck, aims the gun he was given, and starts shooting at the enemy. Four other villagers who were given guns run to the Humvees. One villager positions himself over with Ziva and McGee. The other three villagers position themselves over with Gibbs and the fallen man, Romeo 3.

Gibbs finally falls behind the Humvee, due to the amount of pain. He sits up against the Humvee, next to Romeo 3. Gibbs starts trying to patch himself up. A little further to the Southeast, behind the unmovable US truck, Tony stays sitting against the truck holding onto Kid. Ziva, McGee, Arthur and the four villagers exchange gun fire with the enemy force.

After a couple more minutes of gun fire exchange, to the South, a couple 50 Cals begin to fire as US vehicles enter into an area of the village that gives them a clear shot at the enemy. The US reinforcements have finally arrived. The NCIS team and Nigerian people all duck behind the cover they have. The US vehicles drive passed the Humvee barricades the defenders are using as cover. The US reinforcements continue to eliminate the last of the enemy threat.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

A while after the battle is over, the area is now secure and the enemy threat has been eradicated, a helicopter approaches into the vicinity of the village. As the helicopter finally lands, the door slides open. A couple medics run out in order to go help the injured. Two marines walk over to the truck where Tony, Arthur and Kid are. Kid is standing next to Tony and holding his hand. The marines are now in front of them. One marine takes out a pair of handcuffs and advances toward Arthur.

"Arthur… You're under arrest for the murder of 5 US marines." The other marine stated.

As the marine with the handcuffs is placing them around Arthur's wrists, Kid lets go of Tony's hand. Kid runs toward the arresting marine and begins hitting him and trying to push him away from Arthur. Kid starts crying as he doesn't understand why Arthur is being arrested for something he didn't do to begin with. As the marine continues placing the handcuffs on Arthur, Tony quickly grabs Kid to pull him away. Kid wraps his arms around Tony's neck. Tony lifts Kid and holds him in his arms. The marines take the arrested Arthur to the helicopter. Tony follows. Once inside the helicopter, the marine sits Arthur down. The marine places shackles around Arthur's ankles and fastens them to a steel bar. He then fastens the handcuffs to another steel bar inside the helicopter.

After a while, two stretchers with Gunnery Sergeant Andrew Kipper on one and Gibbs on the other, are placed into the helicopter. Arthur is already in the helicopter. Ziva and a medic help McGee get into the helicopter. Finally, Tony gets into the helicopter along with Kid. Once everybody is secure inside the helicopter, the door slides closed. The rotor of the helicopter begins to move round and round. The helicopter finally takes off. Once in the air, a medic leans toward Arthur and begins to unlock the handcuffs and shackles.

"They just had to make it look like you're a suspect." The medic stated. "Hope you didn't take it personally."

Arthur nods as he knew the reason anyway.

The survivors are on a helicopter ride back to the Command Ship, the USS Mount Whitney. In the helicopter is the entire NCIS team, Gunnery Sergeant Andrew Kipper (a.k.a. Romeo 3 who was the fallen man), plus Arthur and Kid.

Gibbs and Gunnery Sergeant Andrew Kipper are each lying in a separate stretcher. McGee is sitting with his injured leg as elevated as possible. Ziva is sitting regularly with some injuries from the third story room floor collapsing below her. Tony is the least injured out of them all. Arthur is sitting next to Tony. As for Kid, he's curled up in Tony's arms because Kid hardly let go of him ever since Tony got him out of harm's way.

After some time passes, the helicopter approaches the Command Ship and will land in a couple minutes. While still inside of the helicopter, Gunnery Sergeant Andrew Kipper turns his head to look at Gibbs.

"Thanks for coming to get me." Gunnery Sergeant Kipper said.

"A marine never stops being a marine." Gibbs stated. "Semper Fi, my friend… Semper Fi."

Gibbs reaches his arms over and places his hand on Gunnery Sergeant Kipper's uninjured arm.

"Remember when you told me how you haven't met your daughter yet, but you're already dreaming of walking her down the aisle?" Gibbs asked. "When you get home and meet your daughter… You hold onto that dream."

The helicopter finally lands on the back of the Command Ship. The door is flung open and medics begin to take the stretchers out. The medics immediately move Gunnery Sergeant Kipper in order to bring him to the infirmary to get the medical attention he needs. A couple other medics are moving Gibbs' stretcher away from the helicopter as Admiral Montgomery approaches. The medics briefly stop in order for Gibbs to talk to the Admiral.

"I just wanna say…" Gibbs begins to say.

"Do you realize how much explaining I'm gonna have to do cuz of your actions of not evacuating?" Admiral Montgomery asked.

"You would've done the same thing in my place."

"You're right. I would have." Admiral Montgomery said. "You saved the day Jethro."

"It wasn't me." Gibbs moves his head to look at his team who are still by the helicopter, helping McGee to get out. "It was them." Then he looks back to the Admiral. "Sometimes it's not about how much combat experience a person has… Sometimes it's all about a couple of people having big enough hearts to do the right thing, to make a stand against an enemy to protect the innocent. It was their big hearts that made the difference today. And no amount of combat experience can even compare to that."

There's a brief pause of silence between them.

"Did you find who killed Ben?" The Admiral asked.

"The murderer was taken care of."

"Thanks Jethro."

"Now do me a favor and get me patched up… Cuz I need to get home for my daughter's wedding on Sunday night, and to walk her down the aisle."

Admiral Montgomery nods, giving the signal for the medics to take Gibbs to the infirmary for the medical attention he needs. After McGee is helped out of the helicopter and placed on a stretcher, Tony runs over to Admiral Montgomery. Ziva walks alongside McGee's stretcher while the medics move him to take him down to the infirmary. Arthur and Kid are left standing next to the helicopter. Kid is holding Arthur's hand while watching Tony. Tony finally approaches the Admiral.

"Admiral…" Tony tries to get his attention.

Admiral Montgomery turns to Tony.

"May I have a word with you Admiral?" Tony asked.

"What may I do for you DiNozzo?" The Admiral asked.

Tony looks to Arthur and Kid.

"What will happen with them?" Tony asked.

"Arthur's cover hasn't been compromised in any way. So he'll remain in Nigeria since he's still of further use here. Once his identity as being a spy is known, then the US will grant him asylum in America for the work he did over here." The Admiral stated.

"What about the little boy?"

"The boy will stay in Nigeria with Arthur."

"And when Arthur's identity as a spy is compromised?"

"The boy would fall into the category of, Special Consideration. But that's a long shot."

Tony turns to the Admiral and looks him in the eyes.

"What if I adopt him?" Tony asked.

"Are you sure you'd want to do that?" The Admiral asked.

Tony looks back at Kid. Kid waves to Tony. Tony just smiles. Then he looks back toward the Admiral.

"I've never been so sure of anything in my entire life." Tony stated.

"I know some people. So I'll make a few calls… Get some papers quickly pushed through… Pull a few strings... So if Arthur and the kid have no objections. It's mainly the kid's choice. But if the boy wants to, then he'll be able to go home with you." The Admiral said.

"Thanks Admiral."

"Since you obviously need to speak with Arthur about adopting the kid, when you're done, can you bring him to my cabin so I can speak with him in private?"

"I'll do that."

The Admiral walks away. Tony walks toward the helicopter to where Arthur and Kid are. As Tony gets close, Kid walks forward and places his hand into Tony's hand.

"Arthur… Can I speak with you about something?" Tony asked.

"I know what you're gonna say." Arthur answered.

"I'm sorry…" Tony tries to defend himself as he thought he may have offended Arthur in some way.

"No need for an apology. I kinda figured you would eventually ask." Arthur said. "As much as I love Kid… It's just not safe here anymore. But it's not my choice. We'll let Kid decide."

Arthur kneels down to face Kid.

"You've been with me for a long time now, Kid. Nigeria is an unsafe place. And it becomes that way more and more with each passing day. But my work in Nigeria isn't finished, so I need to go back." Arthur stated. "Today made me realize something. It made me realize, if anything ever happens to me, then you wouldn't have anybody to take care of you." He said. "You know I love you, Kid. But you being safe and having a better life means more to me then anything." He pauses for a second. "Tony really cares about you. He offered to adopt you, which means you would go live with him, like you did with me. He would protect you and keep you safe. It's your choice if you want to stay here with me, or go home with him. Just know that I'll always love you. But you do need to choose." He then pauses for a second. "Would you like to go home with Tony?"

Kid now looks up at Tony then he looks back at Arthur. Kid nods his head.

"Ok…" Arthur smiles as he's happy with Kid's decision.

Kid quickly moves forward and wraps his arms around Arthur's neck in order to give him a big hug. After a minute, Kid backs away from Arthur. He then turns to Tony and raises his arms to be picked up. Tony lifts Kid into his arm. Tony then leads Arthur to the Admiral's cabin.


	16. Chapter 16

**Sunday**

**Chapter 16**

The team is finally home. By the doctor's orders, McGee is at the hospital to spend a few days under careful observation due to his leg injury. Ziva went home to eat dinner and to prepare for the wedding. Tony and Gibbs go to the NCIS building because Tony needs to pick something up. Tony and Gibbs step off the elevator and walk to their desks. Kid has his hand clinging to the lower part of Tony's shirt as they're walking.

After a minute of being at their desks, Jamie and Abby step off the elevator. They each run into the work area. As the two girls are running, Kid becomes a little startled and steps behind Tony in order to hide. Kid now grabs Tony's pants too. Jamie runs to Tony as Abby runs to Gibbs.

Jamie immediately wraps her arms around Tony's neck and holds onto him. Abby wraps her arms around Gibbs.

"I was so worried about you." Jamie said. "Thank God you're alright."

"Jamie, we need to talk." Tony said.

Jamie backs up slightly.

"Please tell me you're not reconsidering getting married?" Jamie asked in concern.

"It's not that… I…" Tony begins to say.

Jamie notices the little boy hiding behind Tony. Both Jamie and Kid's eyes meet each others.

"Who is this hiding behind you?" Jamie asked.

"This is Kid…. He's six years old… I sort of adopted him… I know I should've talked to you about…"

Jamie places her finger over Tony mouth.

"It's ok. Don't worry about it." Jamie said. She then kneels down. "Hi Kid. My name is Jamie."

Kid looks up at Tony.

"You can trust her." Tony said.

Kid then looks back to Jamie. He steps forward. Kid's eyes are immediately drawn to Jamie's hair. She has natural medium auburn colored hair with a couple golden blonde, colored streaks which she likes having dyed. Kid begins to examine Jamie's hair as he never knew a person can have two different hair colors. Jamie just smiles.

"Do you like my hair?" Jamie asked.

Kid nods. Jamie brings her hands up to take hold of some of her hair in order to show Kid. She lays the hair in her palm.

"This is my real hair color." Jamie said as she points to the auburn section of the hair. The she points to the dark red section. "And this is from hair dye. It allows a person to make their hair a different color."

Kid smiles as he gently strokes the hair in Jamie's palm.

"I forgot to mention…" Tony begins to say.

Jamie looks up toward Tony as Kid keeps examining her hair.

"Kid can't speak. He lost his voice due to an injury he acquired from being shot." Tony stated. "Also… His real name is unknown. So we just call him, Kid, until we can figure out what his real name is."

Jamie then looks back to Kid who finally takes his hands away from Jamie's hair.

"There's a thing called, sign language. With your hands, sign language is a way to talk if a person can't speak. Would you like to learn how to talk with your hands?" Jamie asked.

Kid nods.

"This is how you sign the word, your nickname… Kid… With your hands." Jamie shows him how to sign the word, kid.

As Jamie keeps showing him how to sign the word, kid, in sign language, he continues watching and trying it for himself. Kid finally gets it and they both smile at each other.

"Good job Kid. You now know how to sign your name." Jamie said.

Kid looks up at Tony. Tony looks down toward Kid. Kid begins signing his name.

"Good job buddy." Tony smiled.

Kid smiles back at Tony. Jamie finally stands up and looks Tony in the eyes. She then wraps her arms around Tony again. She lays her head on Tony's shoulder. She then places her hand on the back of Kid's head to help him realize he's allowed to join in. Kid wraps his arms around Tony and Jamie.

With her head on Tony's shoulder, Jamie looks over to her father. Abby has been giving Gibbs kisses all over his face ever since he got back. Abby finally stops kissing Gibbs and just wraps her arms around him. Gibbs, who is in quite a bit of pain due to his injuries, is trying to not let it bother him because he loves how much attention Abby is giving him and really doesn't want her to stop. Jamie and her father just look at each other.

With her left hand, Jamie signs the phrase, Thank You, to her father. Even though the phrase should be done with the right hand, Gibbs knew exactly what she meant. Gibbs smiles as Jamie closes her eyes while in the arms of the man she's going to marry soon.

"Sweetie… I'd love to stay, but there's a few things I need to get done before the wedding." Tony stated. "Before stores close, I need to get Kid something to wear." He then looks down toward Kid. "We also want some food, right Kid?"

Kid nods in agreement.

"You boys have fun." Jamie said. She then looks down toward Kid. "And I'll see you later." She smiled.

Kid smiles as he steps forward to give Jamie a quick hug. Then he backs up and places his hand in Tony's hand. Tony and Kid finally walk away. As they're walking away, Kid looks back and waves to Jamie. Jamie smiles and waves back.

Jamie now looks toward her father, who is once again, being smothered with Abby kisses. She walks over.

"Ahem!" Jamie tries to get their attention.

Both Gibbs and Abby look toward Jamie.

"I need to borrow my father for a while." Jamie stated.

"I should go get ready for the wedding anyway." Abby said.

Abby then runs to the elevator so she can go home. Once everyone is gone, Jamie throws her arms around her father.

"You look like shit Dad." Jamie stated. "What on earth happened over there?"

"It's a long story." Gibbs said. "But you told me to keep Tony safe… To bring him back unharmed… He may have a scratch or two, but I tried my best to keep my promise."

"Thank you so much for bringing Tony home alive."

There's a moment of silence before Gibbs starts having a hard time with the physical affection of having Jamie hugging him.

"Ok… Jamie… I'm really starting to hurt now." Gibbs said.

"I see how it is…" Jamie backs away from her father. "You'll take the pain when Abby's hugging you… But not me." She stated. "You meanie."

Gibbs just laughs. After noticing her father is slightly leaning toward his left side, Jamie becomes even more concerned.

"Maybe it's not a good idea for you to come to the wedding…" Jamie begins to say. "I mean… It's not like I don't want you to be there. I definitely want you to be there. But if your injured, then I would rather you take it easy in order to help your injuries heal." She keeps talking. "I don't want you to be more hurt cuz…"

Gibbs places her finger over Jamie's mouth.

"This is your day. No amount of injuries would ever stop me from walking you down the aisle." Gibbs stated. "After the wedding is when I'll take it easy for a couple days. But until then, I have no time for pain." He said. "I'm gonna walk you down the aisle… No if's, and's or but's about it."

Gibbs leans forward and kisses Jamie on the forehead.

After an hour, Tony is finally done and basically ready to go to the church. Before going to the church, he stops at the hospital to see McGee. Tony and Kid walk into the room where McGee is staying. Kid is once again holding Tony's hand as they enter the room.

"McGee… What are you doing here?" Tony asked. "You have a wedding to attend."

"I have a pretty major leg injury. Were you not around when the doctor said I should be in the hospital under observation for a couple of days?" McGee asked.

"Yeah, I heard that."

"So I obviously can't leave. Besides… It's not like me being at the wedding would make much of a difference anyway."

"How can you say McGee?"

"Cuz it's true."

"I know I've called you, Probie, for the longest time and that I make fun of you quite a bit…"

McGee just glares at Tony.

"Ok… Maybe I make fun of you a lot." Tony rephrased his comment. "But I want you to know something. This is only a small wedding. You know how a regular wedding has tons of people invited… Bride's maids and Groom's men as the wedding party… There's a wedding reception afterwards… And all the stuff that come with a regular wedding…"

"You lost me." McGee said. "What are you getting at?"

"If this was a regular wedding, I would need someone as my Best Man. If this was a regular wedding, you would be the only person I ask to be my Best Man."

"Woo… I… I…"

Suddenly, a nurse walks into the room with a wheelchair.

"Don't know what to say." McGee finally says something.

"There's no need to say anything." Tony stated.

"You…" McGee begins to say as he sees the nurse with the wheelchair.

"Convinced them to allow you to leave for a while… Yes."

"Me being at your wedding really means that much to you?"

"It wouldn't be the same without you McGee." Tony stated. He then looks toward the wheelchair, then looks back at McGee. "Just get your butt into the wheelchair Probie."

McGee smiles as he the nurse moves the wheelchair closer to the hospital bed. The nurse begins to help McGee into the wheelchair.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

With everyone getting ready for the wedding, the Gibbs' are at their house also getting ready. Gibbs is in the bathroom, with his shirt off, trying to clean the shrapnel wound in order to put a new bandage on. With the positioning of the wound, Gibbs is finding it rather hard to clean the wound properly. Jamie walks into the bathroom to get something. She notices her father is having some difficulties. Jamie walks over to her father in order to help him.

"Let me help." Jamie said. "Sit on the toilet for me."

Jamie takes the cloth from her father's hand as he goes to sit on the toilet since he doesn't need to be by the mirror anymore. Jamie grabs the alcohol from the side of the sink. Gibbs is sitting with his legs off to the side of the toilet, so Jamie kneels behind him. She pours some alcohol unto the cloth and begins dabbing the cloth on her father's shrapnel wound. From only seeing the side of her father's face, Jamie is able to tell something is bothering him.

"What's wrong Dad?" Jamie asked.

"Nothing." Gibbs responded.

"I can tell something is bothering you." Jamie said. "Do you not want me and Tony getting married?"

"It has nothing to do with you and Tony."

"Then what is it?"

"In Nigeria, we all took place in defending a village for about 41 minutes until reinforcements arrived. The village we defended was full of innocent people. We were ordered to evacuate, but I just couldn't leave those people to be slaughtered. I had to help the marines to defend those innocent villagers. And because I stayed, the others stayed…"

"Tony, Ziva and McGee may not be, or ever be marines… But they understand Semper Fi."

"I know…" Gibbs agreed. "The three of them didn't have any combat experience at all… Yet they fought with such passion. They gave it everything they had. With the situation, they knew there was the possibility of being killed. Without hesitation, they were determined to protect the innocent people of that village. It was their hearts that made the difference that day. They never had to be in that situation, but they stayed."

"I can tell you're very proud of them for what they did."

"I am."

"But for some reason, you're not proud of yourself?" Jamie asked as she's trying to get him to open up as to what's bothering him.

"No." Gibbs sighs and looks down.

"Why not?"

"When I was a marine a long time ago, I took part in a situation quite similar to what we faced the other day. I knew my place. I knew what I had to do. But…" Gibbs pauses as he sighs again.

"What happened?"

"My orders were simple… To protect a small area by making sure no enemies get thru. I was at the very right end of a defensive line. It was my job to keep the right side clear, and I did that. But there was this one enemy who was trying to get thru. Since it was the right side, it was up to me to take him out. So I took aim with my sniper rifle. I had the man's head in the crosshairs. I had a ten second window to take him out. But for some reason, I hesitated. There was something about the man that reminded me of my father. I don't know if it was a facial expression or not, but I suddenly started to shiver. I just froze." Gibbs continued. "I told you about my childhood. How much I hated my father for abusing me. But I could never understand why it affected me from taking that shot. So I missed my opportunity to shoot him. I just let him go." He said. "I later found out that the enemy I didn't shoot… The man I let go… He killed three innocent people." Gibbs wipes a tear from his eye. "It's my fault three innocent people died that day. Three lives lost cuz of me. And I have to live with that mistake for the rest of my life."

Jamie is finally done putting a new bandage over her father's shrapnel wound. She then moves over to be in front of her father in order to be face to face while they speak.

"There's probably nothing I can say that will make you feel any better about what happened." Jamie stated. "The way your father treated you… A parent should never put their child thru anything like what you went thru. Your childhood experience may have caused you to make a mistake and there's no fixing that, no matter how much you try to redeem yourself. But it was your childhood experience that makes you such a good father to me. You've never treated me badly. You always made me feel loved. I know your childhood was rough, but it's that which made you become a better father cuz you didn't want to continue that abusive cycle. Your childhood experience also saved Emily a lil while ago. None of us could've gotten her to open up about what happened to her sister and where her sister was buried. But it was your experience that was able to form a bond with her due to shared experiences." She added. "Yes, some experiences may prove to be beneficial… Yet at the same time, those experiences may cause us to make a dreaded mistake. Everybody makes mistakes which they have to live with." Jamie then places her hands on her father's cheeks. "No matter what your mistakes have been, I want you to know something… I am SO proud of you… I'm proud of you and nothing will ever change that."

Gibbs smiles as Jamie wipes a tear from his eye.

"Come to my room. I have a present for you." Jamie stated.

Gibbs puts his shirt on as Jamie leaves the bathroom. Gibbs walks to Jamie's room. He enters the room and sits on the bed. Jamie takes out her antique violin, the one that Tony bought for her.

"I wrote this wrote this song for you, Dad." Jamie stated.

Gibbs lies down on the bed as Jamie begins playing the violin for him. Gibbs closes his eyes as he listens to the sound of the violin playing.

After a couple minutes, Jamie stops playing and puts the violin down. Gibbs opens his eyes and sits up.

"That was beautiful." Gibbs said with a smile. He then looks over at the closet where a wedding gown is hanging. "Is that your dress?"

"Yeah, it is. Me and Tony don't have a lot of money, so what we're wearing is rented. It's not like renting a wedding gown or tuxedo is a bad thing." Jamie stated. "But it's a nice dress."

Jamie walks over to the closet in order to get the dress. She then walks back, close to the bed. Jamie looks at the dress. Gibbs notices her quick facial expression she makes.

"Is there anything wrong?" Gibbs asked.

"No, I just… I just wish Mom was here for this." Jamie said.

"Your mother would've loved to be here for your wedding."

"I wish there was a way she could be."

"Maybe there is."

"Huh?"

Gibbs gets up and walks out of the room. Jamie is left wondering what her father is talking about. A minute later, Gibbs walks back to Jamie's room. Before entering, he pops his head in.

"Close your eyes." Gibbs said.

"Why?" Jamie asked.

"Just do it… Please."

"Ok."

Jamie closes her eyes and just stands there next to the bed. Gibbs walks into the room with something lying across his arms. He stands next to Jamie.

"Before you open your eyes, I want you to know something. What you're about to see is something your mother wore on our wedding day." Gibbs stated. He's hoping Jamie will wear it. Gibbs takes a slightly deep breath. "Ok… Open your eyes."

Jamie opens her eyes. What Jamie sees before her is her mother's wedding dress. She immediately takes the dress in order to look at it more.

"It's beautiful!" Jamie exclaimed. "Can I wear it?"

"You don't have to wear it just for me. I just thought I'd at least show…" Gibbs begins to say.

Jamie places her finger over her father's mouth to quiet him.

"My mother's wedding dress is beautiful. I would be honored to wear it." Jamie said.

"Just know you don't have to. I'm happy either way." Gibbs stated.

"I definitely wanna wear it. This dress is amazing."

Gibbs smiles as he's glad Jamie has decided to wear her mother's wedding dress.

"Turn around so I can put the dress on." Jamie said.

Gibbs turns around so that Jamie can put the dress on. Jamie begins taking her clothes off in order to put the wedding dress on.

"About what you said to me in the bathroom… Thank you." Gibbs said.

"Everything I said it true. I'm definitely proud of you. And I love you so much." Jamie said.

"I you love too."

After a minute, Jamie now has her mother's wedding dress on.

"Can you zip me up?" Jamie asked.

Jamie turns her back to her father. She moves her hair out of the way. Gibbs turns around. He places his finger on the zipper in the back and begins moving it upward. The zipper gets stuck halfway up. Gibbs laughs.

"What?" Jamie wonders what's going on.

"This is the first time I've ever zipped this dress up." Gibbs stated. "I heard that the zipper always gets stuck halfway up. After all this time, I'm finally experiencing the stuck zipper."

Gibbs finally gets the zipper loose. He continues zipping the dress up. He then back away. Jamie turns around to face her father.

"How does it look?" Jamie asked.

"You look beautiful." Gibbs smiled. "You look a lot like your mother in that dress."

"We need to hurry. I don't wanna be late for my wedding."

Gibbs leans forward and kisses Jamie on the forehead. He then walks out of the room. Jamie continues getting ready to leave. Gibbs goes to his room and does the same.


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

Gibbs and Jamie finally arrive at the church. So far, only Tony, Kid, McGee and Ducky seem to be here already. There's still a little bit of time before the service begins. Gibbs and Jamie enter into the church where the priest quickly greets them. Then the priest walks off in order to finish his preparations. Gibbs and Jamie stay in the back of the church, waiting behind the partition, close to where the entrance/exit is. Ziva enters into the church and walks up to Gibbs and Jamie.

"Please tell me you haven't been waiting for me to get here in order to begin." Ziva stated as she approaches.

"You're on time." Jamie said. "Thanks for coming."

"Good. Cuz I actually went back to the NCIS building to pick-up a camera cuz mine isn't working properly." Ziva shows them the camera.

"You do realize those are work cameras that you can't just borrow when you feel like it." Gibbs stated.

The two girls glare at him. Gibbs quickly looks away like he didn't say anything. Jamie smacks Gibbs on the back of the head.

"Well it's true. She shouldn't borrow a work camera for personal use." Gibbs stated. He then notices Jamie is still glaring at him. "But I don't see any camera at this church, so I guess it's no issue." He smiles.

"That's better." Jamie said.

"I'm gonna go inside." Ziva said.

Ziva walks passed the partition and down the aisle to where the others are. Abby enters into the church. Gibbs and Jamie drop their jaws in shock at what Abby is wearing. Abby walks up and gives Jamie a quick hug.

"Oh my God… I hope I'm not late… Is the wedding over? Please tell me it isn't. I hope it isn't. You know I would never intentionally miss your wedding. But my Herse stalled on me. So I was stuck on the road until someone came along to give me a jump-start. And the man was like totally checking me out. So I was scared that he might try grabbing me or something. Then I thought I wouldn't make it here. Actually, before the man came along I didn't think I'd make it here since my Herse stalled. Oh please tell me the wedding isn't over. Cuz if it is… I'm so sorry. And I know how you and Gibbs feel about apologies…"

"Abs…" Jamie tries getting her attention.

"Yes?"

"The wedding hasn't started yet."

"Good. Then I'm on time." Abby smiled.

"One thing Abs… You do realize this is a wedding? Not a gothic funeral."

Abby looks down at what she's wearing.

"Oh my God! I put on the wrong outfit. This isn't what I picked out to wear tonight. I've been a lil hyper tonight cuz when I got home I started drinking tons of Caf-Pow. I guess I was nervous about tonight. Though, I don't understand why. I mean… Why should I be nervous when I'm not the one getting married? One day I'd like to get married. Not right now. But eventually..." Abby looks down at what she's wearing again. "I can't believe I wore this on your wedding day. I had this really cool outfit picked out to wear. But yeah, I look like I'm going to a gothic funeral. I'm not trying to blame anyone or anything, but I drank too much Caf-Pow, so I just wasn't thinking. I didn't realize I put on the wrong outfit. I know it doesn't appear that I'm hyper…" Abby continues talking.

Gibbs and Jamie just look at each other.

"You… Hyper? I can hardly tell." Gibbs said.

"Funny Gibbs… By the look on your face, I know you can tell. Jamie isn't the only one who can read you. I may not be able to read you as well as her, but I can still read you… Somewhat." Abby stated. "Now I realize why that man was checking me out. What I'm wearing is probably why he stopped in the first place. But…" Abby looks down again at what she's wearing. "I need to go home to change."

Abby turns around in order to leave, but Jamie quickly grabs Abby by the arm. Abby turns back around to face Jamie.

"What you're wearing is fine." Jamie said. "Don't worry about it."

"Are you sure? Cuz I can go…" Abby begins to say.

"Go in there…" Jamie points to the inside of the church. "And sit down."

Abby and Jamie smile at each other. Abby then walks off in order to go sit down. After Abby goes to sit down, Fornell enters into the church. Jamie sees him and smiles.

"Thanks for coming Tobias." Jamie greets him.

"I wouldn't have missed this for the world." Fornell stated.

"Sweetie…" Gibbs tries to get Jamie's attention. "I need to speak with Tobias for a minute… So we'll be right back."

"Ok… That's no problem."

Gibbs and Fornell walk off to the side.

"Did you get what I asked you for?" Gibbs asked.

"It's all taken care of." Fornell takes an envelope out of his jacket pocket and hands it to Gibbs. "Everything is there."

"They're gonna love this gift." Gibbs stated as he puts the envelope into his jacket pocket to hide it from Jamie. "Thanks for doing me the favor of taking care of all of this while I was away."

"You would've done the same for me"

Gibbs nods in agreement.

"Well… I'm gonna go find a seat." Fornell said.

"Tobias…" Gibbs tries getting his attention while he's walking away. Fornell turns around to face Gibbs. "Thanks for coming." Gibbs stated.

"Like I told Jamie, I wouldn't have missed this for the world."

Fornell then walks off in order to go find himself a place to sit. Jamie is now standing in the back, getting into position for the wedding service to begin. Gibbs walks over to Jamie. Jamie taking a couple deep breathes.

"Is there anything wrong?" Gibbs asked.

"I can't do this…" Jamie said.

"You're getting cold feet?"

"No… It's not that." Jamie then turns to face her father. "I can't do this until I tell you something."

"What?"

"It's just… I… There's something I've been meaning to tell you and I'm not sure how you're gonna take it. So I've been avoiding it. But for some reason I just can't do this until I tell you." Jamie begins to say. "I've been trying to find the right words and the right time to tell you. But it's… I don't exactly know, so I guess I should just come out and say it." Jamie pauses for a couple seconds as she takes a deep breath. "Dad… I'm…" She pauses. "I'm…" She pauses again.

"You're pregnant… I know."

Jamie now has a surprised facial expression.

"What do you mean, you know? How can you know? Who told you?" Jamie asked.

"No one told me." Gibbs replies.

"Then… But… I don't understand…" Jamie said. "How?"

"Let's just say… When your mother was pregnant with you, there was a slight difference in the way she presented herself in front of me. Just little things that I picked up on… Eye movement, body language, and some other stuff… That was all before she told me. So when you started doing the same things in the passed two weeks… I just knew."

"So you cheated."

"I guess I did." Gibbs laughs.

"Are you mad?" Jamie asked in concern of what her father thinks about her being pregnant.

"No…" Gibbs smiles as he shakes his head. "I know I can be a bastard and I had a hard time letting you go, especially to Tony. But when I think about you being pregnant, it made me think of when your mother was pregnant with you."

"Why does my pregnancy make you think of mom?"

"Your mother and I were trying for some time. We eventually went to a doctor to find out what's going on and why she's not getting pregnant. We were told she can't bare children, that she wouldn't be able to get pregnant." Gibbs stated. "You were our little miracle." He smiles. "Before you came back to me, I basically closed myself off to the memories of you and your mother. I had so many good memories of you two. But I allowed myself to shut them out, to place them all in the back of my mind, hoping to forget about em so I can move on." He said. "Then you came back into my life. Because of you… All those wonderful memories were set free. I was able to think of all those memories, without becoming depressed. I can once again smile about em. You truly are a little miracle. So for you to be pregnant… My little miracle to be pregnant… I just can't help but smile about it."

Jamie smiles at her father while he places his arm around hers. They face the inside of the church as the wedding music begins to play. Gibbs starts walking Jamie down the aisle.

As Gibbs is walking Jamie down the aisle, there are three people up at the Alter. Tony smiles as he watches his bride walks closer and closer with each step. The priest stands there, waiting to perform the wedding ceremony. Kid is up on the Alter, right behind Tony. Kid has one hand clinging to Tony's tuxedo jacket and his other hand clinging to Tony's pants. Kid is also looking toward Jamie and smiling at her. Both Tony and Kid are wearing tuxedos. Ziva begins snapping some pictures with the camera as everyone else, except McGee, are standing, watching the bride.

While sitting in the wheelchair, McGee glances toward Tony. Tony notices and cracks a quick smile. McGee nods as he's proud to be holding the wedding ring to give to Tony when it's needed.

Gibbs and Jamie finally step onto the Alter. Tony extends his hand. Gibbs gently takes Jamie's hand and places her hand into Tony's hand. Tony and Jamie look at each other while Gibbs steps off the Alter in order to go sit next to Abby.

"Hold on." Tony said.

Tony quickly walks to go catch Gibbs before he sits down. Kid keeps his hold of Tony while they step off the Alter. Tony places his hand on Gibbs' shoulder. Gibbs turns around to face him. While face to face with Gibbs, Tony leans his head downward. Gibbs smiles as he knew what Tony needed. Gibbs smacks Tony on the back of the head. Tony then looks up and smiles.

Tony turns to walk back to the Alter, with Kid still clinging to his tuxedo. Gibbs sits down next to Abby. Tony and Kid finally get back onto the Alter.

"What was that all about?" Jamie asked.

"It just felt like something was missing." Tony smiled. "You look stunning in that dress."

"It was my Mom's wedding dress."

"Are you ready to begin?" The priest asked.

"Yes." Both Tony and Jamie say.

Kid nods his head in agreement with being ready too. Jamie smiles at Kid as she's happy to have his blessing to marry Tony as well. The priest begins the ceremony. As the wedding ceremony continues, Abby places her hand into Gibbs' hand. Ziva continues snapping pictures while everyone watches.

With the wedding ceremony in progress, Tony proudly holds the hand of his bride, Jamie.

**THE END**

This concludes the story "No Man Left Behind". Coming soon will be the next story in this series. But until then, I hope you enjoyed this story.

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**Author's Note:** I will be on a brief hiatus from writing fanfiction. I really need a little break from writing stories. Besides, today my new video card is being delivered, so my gaming experience will be much better LoL. Plus, I'm gonna be getting surgery done soon. The surgery will take me out of commission for like two weeks. Though, I'm not exactly sure when the surgery will be done yet. Anyways, I need a little break from writing to begin with. So the next story, in the series, will start sometime in January, the new year.


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